Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Malaysia, a half-day consultation exercise by the ministry of health to bring product
regulations in line with Fctc obligations provided extensive representation to
tobacco industry personnel (Simpson 2006). In argentina, following the drafting
of bills designed to ratify the Fctc by legislators and the executive, pro-tobacco
senators introduced a competing bill 'to create a commission to follow and control the
implementation of the Fctc' (quoted in Sebrié
et al. 2005). Such examples indicate
that while the inability of many governments to overcome industry resistance to
tobacco control was a key driver of the Fctc process, it is by no means clear that
the convention provides a sufficient resource to enable countries to withstand such
opposition.
a further potential problem arising from the realisation of the Fctc is a decline
in political commitment and resources devoted to tobacco control. brundtland's
departure as director general in 2003 inevitably raised concerns about reduced
political capital within the wHo, given the degree of her personal association
with the Fctc. Despite the apparent enthusiasm among member states suggested
by rapid ratification, in a survey for the first conference of the Parties one quarter
of high-income countries reported no current or future support of tobacco control
initiatives (wHo 2006b). Several donors, including the world bank, have reduced
their commitment (Yach 2005), reinforcing a sense that tobacco may have had its
day in the sun.
Such caveats and concerns notwithstanding, however, the Fctc already appears
a remarkable achievement by any reasonable criterion. It stands alongside the
codex alimentarius commission for food standards and the revised International
Health regulations as established international health norms (Yach
et al. 2007). an
indication of its wider significance as a development within health governance is
provided by the increased interest of advocates for other health issues, notably the
obesity epidemic, in developing equivalent international instruments (chopra and
Darnton-Hill 2004). while it remains to be seen whether the Fctc process can
sustain the momentum necessary to ensure its transformation from an international
health treaty to a global movement for public health, there have been promising recent
developments. the announcement in 2006 of Michael bloomberg's US$125 million,
two-year initiative transformed the financial context of global tobacco control, more
than doubling the total of private and public donor resources in developing countries
and with the WHO as a key partner (WHO 2006a). Equally significantly, the first
conference of the Parties in February 2006 undertook to begin the development of
two protocols covering cross-border advertising and illicit trade. It is through such
negotiations that more detailed, binding commitments to advancing tobacco control
can be advanced and the potential of the Fctc be best realised.
Note
1
emphasis on global rather than international public health, based on an account of the
