Tobacco treaty adds up: It's time for action

The landmark Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has come into force without United States ratification. American lawmakers must step up.

Editorial. March 28, 2005.

Anyone interested in public health or tobacco control efforts will find the following collection of numbers important.

For starters: Three. That's how many years it took nations from around the globe working through the World Health Organization to negotiate the terms of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This document, which was unanimously adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly in May 2003, marked an important first. Never before had a global agreement been formulated to respond to the rising worldwide death toll of tobacco-related illnesses.

Here's another number: 5 million. That's the annual tally of lives claimed by smoking, making tobacco-related illness responsible for the death of one in 10 adults, according to WHO estimates. Seventy percent of these deaths occur in the developing world, making tobacco a more deadly force there than HIV/AIDS. Moreover, if current tobacco-use patterns continue, the totals also will grow, and by 2020 smoking will cause some 10 million deaths each year.

These mortality numbers represent the underlying imperative for the Framework Convention. But there are also figures that show how life-saving inroads could occur. WHO officials estimate that cigarette sales will decline by 1% to 2% annually as a result of implementing these international treaty rules. Many public health experts say that this will translate into millions of lives spared from the ravages of tobacco-related illnesses.

There is one more number: 57. This figure represents the countries that actually ratified the treaty by Feb. 27, the date it came into full force. The United States, which last year signed the FCTC, was not among this group.