World health officials call for flavored cigarette ban

World health officials call for flavored cigarette ban

Health delegates from 170 nations around the world have signed a United Nations-sponsored tobacco control agreement in Uruguay that calls for the banning or limiting of additives such as artificial flavorings in cigarettes that seek to entice more consumers. They also urged tobacco companies to fully disclose the ingredients of their products.

The signing of the pact called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the latest blow to the worldwide tobacco industry which has been the subject of attacks in past years about the adverse impact of its products to public health. According to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), smoking is responsible for more deaths than the combined fatalities due to drugs, accidents, AIDS, suicide and murder. The agency says that 500 million out of the six billion global population will die from tobacco-related diseases.

Tobacco industry leaders have fought the stricter rules, arguing that the livelihood of millions of tobacco farmers and other industry workers would be severely affected. They point out that Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest nations who depend on tobacco growing, would lose 20 percent of its economy if the new measures are implemented.

The deal represents the culmination of the effort started five years ago to regulate the use of additives in tobacco products. Health authorities hope that the new guidelines would result to lessened incidence of young people getting the habit. But banning ingredients may not be as easy as it seems, since most flavored cigarettes have ingredients such as licorice, chocolate and strawberry — typical ingredients in ordinary food items.

Posted by George Daniels on Sunday November 21 2010, 8:17 AM EST. Ref: BBC. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0