A new leaf - goodnews - World Health Organization treaty places restrictions on cigarette marketing - Brief Article

Better Nutrition, Sept, 2003

The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a sweeping anti-tobacco treaty May 21 in a global push to regulate cigarette marketing. The United Nations body says smoking kills half of all regular users.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control provides for a general ban on tobacco advertising and promotion of all types--or simply restrictions in countries such as the United States, where a total prohibition would violate the constitution.

The treaty says health warnings-including pictures of diseased gums and lungs-should ideally cover at least half of every cigarette package. The accord encourages governments to clamp down on misleading terms like "low-tar" and "mild" on cigarette packs. It also aims to stop hard-sell tactics aimed at adolescents and to enact tougher measures against second-hand smoke worldwide.

WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland had made the anti-smoking drive the top priority of her five-year tenure. The treaty takes effect after 40 countries have ratified it.

An unrelated study of 2,000 pupils at schools in southern California found that children from smoking homes are up to four times more likely to miss classes due to respiratory illness than those from smoke-free homes. The research appeared in the May 2003 American Journal of Epidemiology.