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Human Rights Emerge as Anti-Smoking Tool By Moon Gwang-lipStaff Reporter Anti-smoking groups have found another solid legal base for a lawsuit against the tobacco industry: human rights. Academic assertions that smoking should be regulated in recognition of citizen’s rights to health were presented to the general session of the Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health (APACT), which started its four-day run in Kyongju, North Kyongsang Province, Wednesday. ``Integrating human rights concerns with public health policies and research will expedite programs to control tobacco locally and internationally and make them more effective,’’ Richard C. Kagan, history professor at Hamline University in the U.S., said during the conference. He said there are numerous advantages in using human rights as a basis to implement tobacco reform. ``The government does not need to spend a lot of time or excessive amounts on legal expenses if it uses human rights law to justify legislation of a tobacco-free environment. In addition, with enforcement of human rights, anti-tobacco advocates are not required to provide as much scientific proof to make their case as in tort law or litigation,’’ he said. ``The government could make its own laws, policies and injunctions based on the effects of marketing a harmful product, without a tobacco lobby hampering the process by discussing personal choice and cigarettes as a legal commodity,’’ the professor added. Cagan suggested the APACT member governments establish a national commission on public health policy that combines public health professionals with human rights specialists as a solution. Even though there has been progress on tobacco control around the world, the problem is still very serious. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the tobacco epidemic is still expanding, especially in developing countries. The WHO said smoking kills 4.9 million people each year, adding that the number is expected to double in the next 20 years. It predicts that at current rates, the total number of smokers will rise to 1.7 billion by 2025 from the current 1.3 billion. Faced with this situation, health-related experts and international organizations have tried to come up with more effective anti-smoking measures, one of which is to redefine health as a human right. ``It is my aspiration that health will finally be seen, not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for,” said Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations. The preamble to the WHO Constitution also stipulates that enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. In this vein, Kagan’s presentation about tobacco control on human rights at the conference is expected to attract wide attention. Ted Chen, professor at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine of Tulane University, U.S., stressed the human rights-based approach to reducing the worldwide tobacco epidemic at the conference. ``Tobacco companies have been violating the basic human rights of tobacco-consumers,’’ he said, in his paper to be presented at this conference. ``Tobacco industries learned early on through their research that cigarettes are harmful to health, but they covered up the information from their consumers. They even doctored the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to keep smokers addicted to smoking.’’ ``To sum up, by selling cigarettes to smokers without informing them of the health hazards of the product and by not providing compensation when harm is caused, the tobacco industry violates their human rights,’’ the professor said. Adolescent smoking and passive smoking have been indicated as classical sub-category cases of human rights infringement of smoking by the professor. ``The tobacco industry uses their huge financial resources to set up an environment to trap youth into smoking at an age when they are not yet capable of making mature decisions. Once youths are addicted, it’s not easy for them to stop,’’ Chen said. ``It is indeed a very serious violation of one’s human right to be forced to breathe life threatening smoky air exhaled by smokers.’’ The professor urged that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty enacted in May, last year, be enacted as soon as possible. ``Every effort should be made now to support the ratification of FCTC, which deals with the smoking issue from a human rights perspective, to make it an international law, so that we can use the law to fight against international tobacco traders,’’ he noted. The FCTC, based on Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 Dec. 1966, which states that it is the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, was unanimously adopted by all WHO member countries. ``Although we have good reason to be confident, a relentless effort will still be needed for the foreseeable future. Current projections show a rise of 31% in tobacco-related deaths during the next twenty years, which will double the current death toll, bringing it to almost ten million a year,’’ said WHO Director General Lee Jong-wook to countries attending the Intergovernmental Working Group. "When the treaty comes into force, national and local activities aimed at reversing these trends will be enormously strengthened. The result will be improved public health and reduced poverty." The FCTC, the first public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO, has provisions that set international standards on tobacco price and tax increases, tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labeling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke. The treaty will go into force after the 40th ratification or equivalent instruments. As of Sep. 14, 31 countries ratified the treaty. However, South Korea, the U.S., and other countries with high smoking rates, are still not among them.

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