International Aspects of Tobacco Control and the Proposed WHO Treaty

Abstract In the past, national and local governments have been the primary sources of official policies aimed at tobacco control. Global and regional organizations have mainly served in advisory capacities. But changing perceptions of the “tobacco problem” have resulted in calls for the formal regulation of tobacco on a worldwide basis. Most significantly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a major effort intended to culminate in the adoption of an international tobacco control treaty. Section 1 of this chapter describes three global tobacco problems that together have prompted the proposed treaty: (1) the growing worldwide epidemic of tobacco-related diseases, (2) the growing economic and political power of the international tobacco companies, and (3) the growing “cross-border” tobacco peril, as exemplified by cigarette smuggling. Section 2 examines the proposed treaty as a policy response to these problems. First, I consider the prospects for global tobacco control absent a treaty. Then I review the specifics of the proposed treaty and present optimistic scenarios that explore the ways in which the treaty could lead to the imposition of worldwide tobacco controls that nations acting without a treaty could not, or would not, otherwise achieve. That optimistic picture is followed by some cautionary scenarios that explore how the proposed treaty might fail.