Thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in this even connected to the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference.
Let me begin by observing that implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC, and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, provide countries with a clear roadmap on the best way to bring an end to the tobacco epidemic, and its devastating consequences.
Undoubtedly there are important parallels between the decision of the Member States of the United Nations in 1992 to adopt the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the decision of the Member States of the World Health Organization to adopt the WHO FCTC in 2003.
One similarity is that both bodies were aiming to protect present and future generations. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, requests Parties to protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, while the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or WHO FCTC, includes in its objective the protection of present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.
Another common aspect is that tobacco during its entire life cycle, from cultivation to consumer waste, has a negative impact on the environment. It uses and destroys soil that could be used for cultivating food crops, and it contributes to deforestation, desertification, and green house emissions. Cigarette butts – which many people do not realize are made of plastic - are a major pollutant on coastlines and in seas.
The WHO FCTC is fundamental to sustainable development, which has been recognized in target 3.a of the 2030 Sustainable Agenda, that calls on countries to strengthen the implementation of the WHO FCTC as a means of implementing goal 3.4 regarding health and well-being for all at all ages.
But perhaps the most important parallel between the WHO FCTC and the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement is the relationship between the problem that those treaties try to solve and the interests of powerful economic sectors, whose revenues are closely tied to the damage they produce.
The WHO FCTC includes tools to protect public policies on tobacco control from the interference of the tobacco industry and those who work to further its interests.
The tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest with public health, and industry, since its inception, has prioritized its revenues over the health of people and of the planet.
These tools, include Article 5.3, that calls on Parties to protect public health policies related to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry; and Article 19 on Liability that encourages Parties, for the purpose of tobacco control, to take legislative action or promote their existing laws to deal with criminal and civil liability, including compensation when appropriate.
Aticle 5.3 has also Guidelines for its implementation, that Parties agreed to and that provide details on how to comply with the article 5.3 obligation. The guidelines are multifaceted, and recommend a number of actions, such as establishing when and how public ervants may interact with the tobacco industry, with an emphasis on limiting interactions to those strictly necessary for regulation, as well as establishing that any such interaction should be done with the maximum possible transparency.
.