Health Organization Framework Convention Research Articles

Corporate Power and Social Policy: The Political Economy of the Transnational Tobacco Companies.

Drawing on published tobacco document research and related sources, this article applies Farnsworth and Holden's conceptual framework for the analysis of corporate power and corporate involvement in social policy (2006) to the transnational tobacco companies (TTCs). An assessment is made of TTCs' structural power, the impact upon their structural position of tobacco control (TC) policies, and their use of agency power. The analysis suggests that, as a result of the growth of TC policies from the 1950s onwards, TTCs have had to rely on political agency to pursue their interests and attempt to reassert their structural position. The collapse of the Eastern bloc and the liberalisation of East Asian economies presented new structural opportunities for TTCs in the 1980s and 1990s, but the development of globally coordinated TC policies facilitated by the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has the potential to constrain these.

Global Economic and Health Benefits of Tobacco Control: Part 2

Although the risks of tobacco smoking have been known for decades, the pandemic of tobacco use continues. There are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, along with millions more using various oral tobacco products. Recent global estimates place the mortality burden from tobacco use at over 6 million annually, with nearly two-thirds of these deaths occurring in developing countries. If current patterns persist, there will be an estimated 1 billion deaths from tobacco during the twenty-first century. Part 1 of this two-part paper provides an overview of the tobacco pandemic, the scope of the pandemic, and its economic and health consequences. Part 2 reviews the history of tobacco control to date and addresses the current global strategy, based on the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the MPOWER package of interventions. Part 2 ends with a consideration of scenarios for the future of the pandemic.

Global Economic and Health Benefits of Tobacco Control: Part 1

Although the risks of tobacco smoking have been known for decades, the pandemic of tobacco use continues. There are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, along with millions more using various oral tobacco products. Recent global estimates place the mortality burden from tobacco use at over 6 million annually, with nearly two-thirds of these deaths occurring in developing countries. If current patterns persist, there will be an estimated 1 billion deaths from tobacco during the twenty-first century. Part 1 of this two-part paper provides an overview of the tobacco pandemic, the scope of the pandemic, and its economic and health consequences. Part 2 reviews the history of tobacco control to date and addresses the current global strategy, based on the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the MPOWER package of interventions. Part 2 ends with a consideration of scenarios for the future of the pandemic.

Epistemic communities and the global alliance against tobacco marketing

AbstractThe World Health Organization's (WHO's) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is a major blow to the worldwide expansion strategies and marketing practices of transnational tobacco companies. As expected, the industry vehemently opposed the treaty, lobbying instead for voluntary agreements and regulation by the market. However, in spite of bitter and persistent opposition by the tobacco industry, the FCTC was adopted by WHO. If the tobacco industry “lost” its battle to prevent FCTC from being institutionalized, who “won” and how? Our research suggests that the efforts of the epistemic community—a like‐minded network of professionals whose authoritative claim to consensual knowledge provides them with a unique source of power in public policy decision making—won the battle by being able to better convince the decision makers as to the needs of the FCTC by relying on, and successfully disseminating, its knowledge, expertise, and ideas. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Environmental Health Organisations against Tobacco

Implementing the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) relies heavily on enforcement. Little is known of the way different enforcement agencies operate, prioritise or network. A questionnaire was sent to representatives of the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) in 36 countries. Tobacco control was given low priority. Almost two thirds did not have any tobacco control policy. A third reported their organisation had worked with other agencies on tobacco control. Obstacles to addressing tobacco control included a lack of resources (61%) and absence of a coherent strategy (39%).

Tobacco Farmers and Tobacco Manufacturers: Implications for Tobacco Control in Tobacco-Growing Developing Countries

Assisting tobacco farmers to transition to non-tobacco alternatives is a key element of comprehensive tobacco control's end-game strategy and specifically required by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). We examine the historical relationship between tobacco manufacturers and tobacco farmers in the United States, where the duration of the relationship has been longest and use information obtained to inform possible end-game strategies for tobacco control advocates working with tobacco farmers in developing countries. Tobacco Documents obtained under the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) provide evidence of conflicts between tobacco manufacturers and tobacco farmers. Findings support WHO FCTC articles aimed at helping developing country tobacco farmers adversely affected by tobacco control efforts and highlight difficulties in discouraging tobacco cultivation as long as it remains relatively profitable. We conclude that successful end-game strategies should take a long-term approach aimed at building alliances with tobacco farmers and at creating mechanisms for tobacco farmer investment in local infrastructure.

Smoking prevention: Obstacles and possibilities

A brief overview is given of the disastrous effects of tobacco smoking on health, the environment and the economy. Obstacles for prevention are exemplified by the strong addictive property of nicotine, the ruthlessness and greed of the tobacco industry, and the ambivalence still demonstrated by the political and the health professional community in the fight against tobacco. A successful comprehensive tobacco control strategy is recognized and promoted by the first global health convention, the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. WHO has great expectations of the health community to support the implementation of the convention: who else has a greater responsibility?

The Global Smoking Epidemic: A History and Status Report

The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco causes approximately 5 million deaths annually worldwide, a number expected to double by 2025. Cigarette consumption grew from only a few billion per year in 1900 to present values of approximately 5.5 trillion worldwide. Historical causes for the rise of smoking include the invention of flue curing, safety matches, and cigarette rolling machines, but also the distribution of cigarettes to soldiers during World War I, mass marketing, the failure of governments to limit consumption, and the duplicitous denial of hazards by manufacturers. Cancers of the lip, throat, and tongue were linked to tobacco as early as the 18th century, but a lung cancer hazard from smoking was not suspected until the first decade of the 20th century. Epidemiologic evidence began to emerge in the 1920s, and by the 1950s, the causal link with cigarette smoking was well established. Epidemiologic studies, animal experiments, and studies demonstrating pathologic changes in lung tissues at autopsy were 3 pivotal sources of evidence. However, the tobacco industry refused to concede the reality of tobacco hazards until the late 1990s. Instead, the industry sought to target physicians and others with its message of “no proof,” using subtle techniques of deception, including the funding of spurious research, duplicitous press releases, propaganda efforts directed at physicians, and the employment of historians to construct exculpatory narratives. The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control promises to standardize global tobacco control measures, including policies to limit smuggling. Effective means of reducing tobacco use include counter-advertising, increased taxation, smoke-free workplace legislation, and litigation against the industry.

The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Implications for Global Epidemics of Food-Related Deaths and Disease

This paper reviews the major elements of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and considers those that can be applied to diet and nutrition. Tobacco and food policy have important differences: the two commodities have distinctly different health impacts, and food companies may be more responsive to public concerns than the tobacco industry. Nevertheless, both food and tobacco policy address public health issues surrounding legal products. Both require comprehensive and multi-sector approaches at global and national levels. The degree of flexibility possible in interacting and partnering with the private sector and food and related industries and the related implications for regulations and laws are reasons for a more nuanced approach to diet and physical activity policy.