KEY ELEMENTS OF THE FCTC

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KEY ELEMENTS OF THE FCTC
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Purpose of Exercise

• Be able to articulate concise arguments in favor
  of ratifying the FCTC and the policy measures
  it contains to policymakers, the media and other
  potential allies.
• Enable you to anticipate and counteract common
  tobacco industry arguments against the FCTC and
  its policies.

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Task

• Develop three key arguments in favor of the
  policy and be able to present them in a concise
  and convincing manner
• Anticipate main industry arguments against the
  policy and develop responses
• Develop three main industry arguments for the
  next group

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Advertising Bans

• FCTC Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship
  (Article 13)
• Requires a comprehensive ban within five years,
  including cross-border advertising originating
  within a Party's territory.
• Includes indirect as well as direct forms of
  advertising.
• Allows for constitutional constraints.
• The Parties also agree to consider a protocol to
  elaborate on cross-border advertising.

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Advertising Bans and Consumption

• Scientific and economic rationale for bans
• Research shows that comprehensive tobacco
  advertising and promotion bans can decrease
  consumption.
• Partial bans have been found to be ineffective,
  since substitution to other non-banned media
  occurs.

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Common Arguments Against Ad Bans and Useful
Responses
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Tobacco advertising doesnt affect tobacco
consumption

• Dozens of studies show that increased tobacco
  promotion is linked to increased tobacco use in
  the general population. Promotion is also linked
  to smoking initiation among specific groups
  such as women and children as a result of
  campaigns targeted at them. Studies have also
  shown that the elimination or near-elimination of
  tobacco promotion decreases tobacco use. Partial
  restrictions on promotion have little or no
  impact on consumption, usually because the
  tobacco companies simply invest more money in
  promotional avenues still available to them.

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We should prohibit advertising aimed at kids

• It is impossible to draw a clear line defining
  what advertising is targeted at kids. Cigarette
  promotion has been successful in reaching youth
  in large part because it portrays smoking as an
  adult behavior something that every
  adolescent aspires to. And studies have shown
  that partial restrictions on promotion do not
  reduce tobacco use. Bans or near-total bans on
  promotion do reduce tobacco use.

9
Arts and sporting events would disappear without
tobacco industry support

• Many jurisdictions have banned tobacco
  sponsorships and, despite dire predictions, most
  groups have found alternative sponsors. Other
  jurisdictions have used revenue from tobacco
  taxes to buy out tobacco sponsorships and fund
  events. This way, people are exposed to messages
  about health rather than unhealthy products when
  they watch sports events or musical concerts.

10
We dont need to regulate tobacco advertising
the tobacco companies have a voluntary code and
are behaving responsibly

• Tobacco company codes, by their own admission in
  internal documents, are designed solely as public
  relations strategies to forestall meaningful
  regulation of promotion. The codes are extremely
  weak, and in most countries the companies
  routinely violate their own codes. Rather than
  allowing the fox to guard the chicken coop, the
  best solution is a legislated ban on all tobacco
  advertising and promotion.

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TAXATION

• FCTC Taxation Duty Free Sales
• (Article 6)
• Tobacco tax increases are encouraged.
• Recognition that raising tobacco prices "is an
  effective and important means of reducing tobacco
  consumption
• Duty-free sales are discouraged. Parties may
  prohibit or restrict duty-free sales of tobacco
  products.

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Tobacco Taxes and Consumption

• Scientific and economic rationale for taxes
• Price increases through taxation on tobacco
  products are among the most effective
  interventions in reducing demand, especially
  among youth and persons with low incomes.
• At the same time, tobacco taxes are very
  efficient at raising government revenues.

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Common Arguments Against Tax Hikes Useful
Responses
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Tobacco taxes hurt the poor and punish smokers

• Tobacco taxes are extremely effective in
  reducing tobacco use. For every 10 increase in
  the real price of tobacco products, consumption
  in middle-income countries will drop by about 8.
  The decrease will be greatest among youth and the
  poor, exactly those groups that government policy
  hopes to benefit the most and that can least
  afford to bear the burden of tobacco-caused
  disease. Money from taxes can be used to pay for
  programs that help smokers quit smoking, and for
  programs that benefit the poor.

15
Tobacco taxes are just a money grab by
governments

• It is true that some governments raise tobacco
  taxes primarily to increase government revenue.
  But this does not detract from the fact that
  tobacco taxes are healthy public policy.

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Government will lose revenue if they increase
tobacco taxes

• There has not been a single instance in which an
  increase in tobacco taxes has resulted in
  decreased government revenue. On the contrary,
  data from dozens of countries shows that when
  tobacco taxes increase, revenue from tobacco
  taxes increases. Although tobacco consumption
  falls in response to higher prices, because
  tobacco is addictive the decline is small in
  proportion to the tax increase, guaranteeing
  stable government revenue at least in the medium
  term.

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Higher tobacco taxes will increase tobacco
smuggling

• The level of corruption in a country as
  measured by the transparency index is a far
  better predictor of tobacco smuggling than the
  level of tax. In most countries, the benefits of
  higher tobacco taxes in terms of health and
  revenue have been significant even in countries
  where the level of consumption of smuggled
  tobacco is high. And governments can use
  increased tax revenue to strengthen
  anti-smuggling efforts.

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Secondhand Smoke

• FCTC Secondhand Smoke (Article 8)
• Obliges parties to adopt effective laws to
  protect citizens from tobacco smoke.
• Guiding Principle calls on governments to
  contemplate measures to protect all persons from
  exposure to tobacco smoke.

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Clean Indoor Air Laws, Consumption Public Health

• Scientific Rationale
• The scientific evidence unequivocally establishes
  that tobacco smoke causes disease, disability,
  and death to those exposed, both smokers and non
  smokers. Tobacco smoke contains more than 60
  known or suspected cancer-causing compounds, as
  well as other toxins. For many of these
  compounds, there is no safe level of exposure
• Definitive reports by the International Agency
  for Research on Cancer, the U.K. Scientific
  Committee on Tobacco and Health, and the U.S.
  Environmental Protection Agency, among others,
  have concluded that tobacco smoke is a human
  carcinogen.

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Prohibiting Smoking in Public Places

• Policy Rationales
• Protecting Non-Smokers
• Influencing Smoking Consumption
• Changing Social Norms

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Common Arguments Against Clean Indoor Air Laws
Useful Responses
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There is no proven link between secondhand smoke
and disease

• Every credible medical and scientific
  organization in the world including the World
  Health Organization, the US Surgeon General,
  national environmental protection agencies,
  colleges of physicians and surgeons agrees that
  secondhand smoke exposure causes serious illness
  and death in nonsmokers. There are no more
  important sources of air pollution.

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Shared smoking and nonsmoking areas will solve
the problem

• This is like having a urinating and
  non-urinating section in a swimming pool. Would
  you jump in? If the air is shared, the smoke
  pollution is shared. Smoke in the smoking section
  causes disease in the nonsmoking section.

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Secondhand smoke is just an issue of poor
ventilation

• Better ventilation may reduce the odour of
  smoke, but it does not eliminate the harmful
  chemicals. To eliminate these chemicals in an
  average smoking office, so many air exchanges
  would be required that there would be a small
  hurricane. And why force businesses to invest in
  expensive ventilation equipment when they can
  just eliminate the source of the pollution? The
  cheapest, most effective, and only sensible
  solution is to eliminate smoking indoors.

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Smoke-free environments will harm businesses,
especially bars, restaurants, and tourist
industries

• Workplaces that are smoke-free lower their
  maintenance and insurance costs, and their
  workers are more productive. Smokers and
  nonsmokers exposed to smoke get sick more often
  than nonsmokers not exposed, and smoke-free
  workplaces help smokers to quit smoking.
• The effect of banning smoking in bars and
  restaurants has been studied in hundreds of
  communities. Sales receipts show that sales
  increase or remain the same in smoke-free bars
  and restaurants in comparison to those in
  jurisdictions that still allow smoking. Studies
  that show otherwise are always funded by the
  tobacco industry allies, and usually look at
  owner predictions rather than actual sales data.

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Government doesnt have the right to tell my
business what to do

• Businesses do not have the right to endanger the
  health and lives of their employees and
  customers. Government is obligated to protect
  public health and safety, as it does when it
  regulates drinking and driving, implements
  seatbelt laws, or sets environmental pollution
  standards.

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Smoking restrictions infringe on smokers
rights

• As the old saying goes, my right to swing my arm
  stops where your nose begins. Smokers do not have
  the right to harm others with their smoke.
  Smoke-free environments do not violate the
  right to smoke, they protect the right of
  nonsmokers to breathe clean air.

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PACKAGING LABELING (including light low)

• FCTC Packaging and Labeling (Article 11)
• Obliges parties to adopt and implement effective
  measures to ensure that
• packaging and labelling do not employ false or
  misleading promotions about health effects, which
  may include a ban on terms such as low tar,
  light, ultra light or mild
• Every package carries health warnings describing
  the harmful effects of tobacco use. These
  warnings and messages
• (i) shall be approved by the competent national
  authority
• (ii) shall be rotating
• (iii) shall be large, clear, visible and legible
• (iv) should be 50 or more of the principal
  display areas but shall be no less than 30 of
  the principal display areas
• (v) may be in the form of or include pictures or
  pictograms.
• Each unit package to contain information on
  relevant constituents and emissions.

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PACKAGING LABELING

• Scientific and economic rationale
• Prominent health warnings and messages on tobacco
  product packages have been found to lead to an
  increased awareness of risks and an increased
  desire to quit

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Common Arguments Against Packaging Labeling
and Useful Responses
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Package messages are ineffective

• The package messages in many countries are
  ineffective because they are so small and give
  unclear information. But in Canada and Brazil,
  where health messages on packages are large and
  use pictures, messages have motivated many
  smokers to try to quit smoking. Smokers say that
  the information is relevant and informs them
  about the effects of smoking on their own health
  and on the health of others who breathe their
  smoke involuntarily. These messages can reinforce
  other elements of a tobacco control program, such
  as smoke-free environments.

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People here buy single cigarettes, they wont
even see packages

• If the health messages are large enough and
  clear enough, people will see them when they are
  displayed for sale, when they are taken out of
  smokers pockets and purses, and when they are
  discarded. Package messages are one of the
  cheapest and widest-reaching forms of public
  education available.

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Many people cant read so package messages wont
work

• This is a good reason to have pictures
  accompanying text messages. Pictures can
  graphically illustrate the health harms of
  smoking and secondhand smoke, and can be
  understood even without text.

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SMUGGLING

• FCTC Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (Article
  15)
• Obliges parties to monitor and collect data on
  cross-border trade in tobacco products, including
  illicit trade, and exchange information among
  customs, tax and other authorities, as
  appropriate, and in accordance with national law
  and relevant applicable bilateral or multilateral
  agreements.
• Requires parties to implement measures to
  monitor, document and control the storage and
  distribution of tobacco products held or moving
  under suspension of taxes or duties within its
  jurisdiction
• Additional Article 15 obligations on smuggling
  are related to labelling and to enforcement.

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ANTI-SMUGGLING MEASURES

• Scientific and economic rationale
• Tobacco product smuggling deprives the government
  of significant tax revenues. Total revenue lost
  to governments on account of smuggling is
  estimated to be 25-30,000 million annually.
• Smuggling also brings tobacco products into
  markets more cheaply, making them more
  affordable, increasing consumption.

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Common Arguments Against Anti-Smuggling Measures
Useful Responses
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Tobacco taxes will increase smuggling

• Smuggling is a problem worldwide, even in
  countries where taxes are low

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Common Arguments Against the FCTC and Useful
Responses
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The FCTC is taking away the sovereign right of
countries to decide their own approach to tobacco
use

• The FCTC has been negotiated by WHO Member
  States in their capacity as sovereign nations. It
  is an agreement that countries can choose to sign
  or not. The vast majority of countries support
  the FCTC, because they see it as a mechanism to
  strengthen their national efforts to reduce
  tobacco use.

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The FCTC will set up a new, expensive
bureaucracy for tobacco control

• The FCTC will provide a mechanism for countries
  to share knowledge and resources to support
  tobacco control, providing most countries with
  cost savings and an opportunity to boost the
  impact of their domestic policies and programs.

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The FCTC will violate trade agreements

• By signing and ratifying the FCTC, countries
  will acknowledge the importance of measures to
  protect public health and will be less likely to
  challenge other countries that implement such
  measures.