Action on Smoking and Health
A National Charitable Antismoking &
Nonsmokers' Rights Organization
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TO: World Health Organization, United Nations

FROM: Professor John F. Banzhaf III, Esq.; Exec. Dir. & Chief Counsel

OF: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

RE: REQUEST TO TESTIFY AT FCTC PUBLIC FORUM IN GENEVA AND
Statement in Support of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

ASH, THE ORGANIZATION:

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a non-profit tax-exempt legal action antismoking organization based in the United States, has been solely devoted to the many problems of smoking for over 32 years. Its principal activity is to serve as the legal action arm of the nonsmoking community, bringing or joining in legal actions concerning smoking, and insuring that the voice of the nonsmoker is heard. It also serves as an advocate of the nonsmokers' rights movement. More information about ASH will be found on its award-winning Internet web site at: http://ash.org

ASH'S MISSION IS TO:

* protect nonsmokers from the clearly-established dangers of secondhand tobacco smoke;

* reduce the deadly toll of smoking by banning the advertising and promotion of cigarettes, and by keeping them out of the hands of children;

* force those who use or profit from tobacco to pay the enormous costs of smoking which are now borne largely by nonsmokers;

* end all subsidies and other governmental support of the tobacco industry;

* serve as a clearinghouse of information and ideas for all people concerned about smoking, both here and abroad.

ASH'S LEADERSHIP:

ASH's executive director, John F. Banzhaf, III, has been called the "Ralph Nader of the Tobacco Industry," "Mr. Anti-Smoking," and the "Man behind the Ban on Cigarette Commercials". He is perhaps the best known spokesman for the anti-smoking community, and has frequently discussed and debated many topics related to smoking. He has appeared
frequently on news, talk-show, and debate programs including the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Today, Good Morning America, Nightline, Crossfire, Face The Nation, and many others. He has been a featured speaker at many World Conferences on tobacco, and has testified numerous times on topics related to smoking.

John Banzhaf is also a Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School where he is widely known for his public-interest activities relating to environmental protection, auto safety, sex discrimination, governmental corruption and many other problems. In addition to his legal expertise, he brings to ASH his background as a scientist and research engineer with a degree from M.I.T., two U.S. patents and several published technical papers.

ASH's Board of Trustees include many people of great skill and determination who have demonstrated their concern about smoking, and their support for activities to reduce it. These include Dr. Alfred Munzer of the Washington Adventist Hospital, and former President of the American Lung Association; Dr. Louis Sullivan of the Morehouse School of Medicine, and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], and Mrs. Ethel R. Wells Dynamic Strategy Research Foundation.

ASH's Board of Sponsors includes Mr. Steve Allen, Singer/Actor; Hon. Anthony C. Beilenson, Former U.S. Congressman, CA; Hon. Joseph A. Califano Jr., Pres., Natl Center on Addiction, and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH, Founder, Aerobics Fitness Ctr.; Dr. Bernard D. Davis, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Frederick H. Epstein, Inst. Social & Preventative Med., Dr. Charles A. Evans, Univ. of Washington; Dr. Emmanuel Farber, Univ. of Toronto; Dr. Donald T. Frederickson, NYU Medical School; Dr. Hollis S. Ingraham, Former Comm. of Health, NY; Miss Ann Landers, Syndicated Columnist; Dr. Louis Lasagna, Tufts Univ., Sch. Of Med; Dr. Joseph L. Melnick, Baylor College of Medicine; Hon. Howard Metzenbaum, Former U.S. Senator; Dr. Francis D. Moore, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Emily H. Mudd, Em. Prof., U of PA, Med School; Miss Bess Myerson, Consumer Advocate, Hon. Maurine B. Neuberger, Former U.S. Senator; Dr. Joseph Ross, UCLA School of Medicine; Dr. Mona M. Shangold, Amer. Col. Sports Med.; Miss Abigail Van Buren, Syndicated Columnist; Mr. Dennis Weaver; Film and Television Personality; Mr. Roger Williams, Pianist and Television Artist, and many others.

BACKGROUND:

According to the World Health Organization, by the year 2030, ten million people a year will be dying of smoking. Unless smoking behavior changes, smoking-related premature deaths in developing countries will exceed deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis, and complications from childbirth COMBINED. Unlike the situation in the United States, the tobacco industry has
yet to establish a foothold in many countries abroad. Therefore, there exists a window of opportunity to combat tobacco before it becomes an uncontrollable menace.

While several countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa have established antismoking organizations that focus on the diseases caused by tobacco, there are very few organizations that address legislative actions such as restrictions on smoking, health warnings on cigarette cartons, and cigarette taxes. Many of these smaller groups lack adequate funding to purchase professional
journals and other publications. And, there is insufficient coordinated exchange or sharing of information between countries.

ASH'S PLANS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE U.N. EFFORT:

ASH is planning to establish and maintain an Internet site which would provide worldwide smoking information related to the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the international problems of smoking. International organizations will be able to access technical information on a number of smoking-related issues -- such as the addictive nature of nicotine, the hazards of secondhand smoke, and legislative actions such as the banning of billboard advertising. International organizations would also be able to automatically link with other tobacco control resources on the Internet.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF FCTC AND POSITION OF RELEVANT ISSUES:

* The protection and promotion of public health should provide the sole basis for any and all provisions in the FCTC.

* The problems caused by tobacco use are not confined to developed countries. Increasingly, the burden of tobacco-related death and disease is being borne by developing countries.

* The world needs a strong, enforceable convention that holds tobacco companies accountable and supports governments in their effort to protect and promote public health.

* The FCTC should, at a minimum, provide support and encouragement for national policies and multilateral measures that would stem the disastrous global public health epidemic occurring as a result of tobacco use.

* Nothing in the Framework Convention or related protocols should reduce, relax or in any other way diminish existing tobacco control initiatives, regulations, laws, or practices in any signatory country. The Convention should set a floor, rather than a ceiling, for national efforts. The FCTC should provide strong international measures to control problems that cannot be handled on a national or local level, such as smuggling and advertising that cannot be stopped at borders, e.g. internet and satellite television advertising.

* Recognizing the important role of advertising in the spread of tobacco use, the FCTC should provide for stringent restrictions on all direct or indirect advertising.

* The FCTC should provide for international agreements and institutions to provide solutions to issues that are amenable to international cooperation and the transfer of information and technology, such as product regulation and tobacco testing, collection of statistical data, and agricultural diversification.

* The FCTC should make certain that provisions are included to ensure strong national tobacco control measures in areas that are traditionally domestic, such as taxation, prevention and treatment, passive smoking, youth access, health education and some areas of advertising.

* Provisions of the Framework Convention and its related protocols should be made legally binding on the tobacco companies and therefore be implemented by legislation or regulation within member countries.

* Tobacco companies, their subsidiaries, agents or consultants do not have public health concerns as their key priority, putting them directly in conflict with the primary aim of the Framework Convention. Therefore, they should not serve in any official capacity in the process of negotiating or implementing the Convention.

* NGOs should be fully integrated into the Framework Convention process. Rules for NGO participation should rely on the precedents set at other recent UN Conferences. WHO should also work with governments and private organizations to seek funds for ensuring strong representation from developing country NGOs.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is a national, nonprofit charitable trust which is entirely supported by tax-deductible contributions from individuals and private foundations.