A wisp of public-spiritedness: Tobacco firms want the right to participate in global efforts to limit the lethal consequences of nicotine addiction–but 160 governments say no
SOME people would say it was tantamount to foxes asking to be consulted about the welfare of chickens. But the global tobacco industry, while no longer denying that its products do terrible damage, has long insisted that in any discussion about how to limit the medical effects of the weed, it is a legitimate partner.
That claim was emphatically rejected by health officials from 160 countries after a week’s deliberation in South Africa which concluded on November 22nd. In a statement that grew steadily tougher in the course of the meeting–to the dismay of cigarette firms and the delight of their adversaries–it was proclaimed that there is a “fundamental and irreconcilable conflict” between the interests of the tobacco industry and the cause of public health.
In a non-binding but morally powerful set of guidelines, it was also laid down that interaction between governments and tobacco firms should be limited to what is “strictly necessary” and kept transparent through public hearings and disclosure of records; voluntary or non-enforceable arrangements should be barred. In other words, anything that could make tobacco firms look like decent citizens, doing their bit for public service, ought to be avoided. . . .
Richard Burr, a senator from North Carolina, calls the treaty a surrender of sovereignty which would punish the United States by forcing it to fund the lion’s share of a global anti-tobacco drive with no corresponding rise in influence. Moreover, he says, the drafters of the treaty refused to listen to the “producers of tobacco”–a sure sign that their purpose was not “to bring a safer product to market” but to eliminate the production of tobacco altogether.
On the last point, at least, tobacco’s sternest foes might concur with the senator. However, some American legislators have taken a different view. In 2005 a group of 11 senators wrote to George Bush urging him to send over the tobacco treaty for consideration; they noted that tobacco claims more than 400,000 American lives a year. One of the signatories was a senator whose appealingly husky voice may owe something to his own weakness for the weed–Barack Obama.
