Casting out the tobacco industry, which drives a deadly epidemic, could provide precedent for insulating other policy making spaces. This includes corporations that drive environmental and public health harms; for example, in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change has no limitations on fossil fuel industry interference. And their obstruction has been at the core of the talks for the past three years.
The decisions adopted by Parties will shape the implementation of the FCTC for the next two years and beyond. The treaty, which entered into force in 2005, contains the world's most effective tobacco control and corporate accountability measures--estimated to save more than 200 million lives by 2050 if fully implemented.
Key outcomes from the talks included:
- Policy preventing the industry from attending meetings posing as members of the general public and media and requires delegations to disclose any ties to the tobacco industry.
- Reaffirmation of Article 5.3 guidelines, safeguarding the treaty from emerging industry tactics and calling for all institutions to reject partnerships with industry-funded groups.
- Recommending a study on heat-not-burn products and declaring that the FCTC guidelines apply to these novel and emerging products.
- Adopting a global strategy for tobacco reduction.
Bobby Ramakant, CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Bobby Ramakant is a WHO Director General's WNTD Awardee and Policy Director of CNS (Citizen News Service). Follow him on Twitter @bobbyramakant or visit www.citizen-news.org)
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