Tobacco Treaty Draws 41 Signatures in First Week

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Tobacco Treaty Draws 41 Signatures in First Week

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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in Geneva Tuesday that the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was signed by 40 countries and the European Community during the first week it was opened for signature.

"The fact that so many countries signed the FCTC in its first week demonstrates how strongly it is supported and how meaningful it is to diverse populations and situations," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO director-general.

"It is only through a concerted worldwide effort that we can make global tobacco control happen. The benefits for health will be immense," she said.

The WHO said ratification, acceptance, approval and accession are international acts by which states that have already signed the FCTC establish on the international plane their consent to be bound by it.

Norway is the first country to accept the treaty. As soon as 39more countries follow suit, the convention will become law for those countries and thereafter for other countries that ratify it.

Tobacco kills nearly 5 million people every year. Unless strongaction is taken, the global escalation in smoking, including amongst children, adolescents and women, will impose an even larger burden of disease, disability and death particularly on developing countries, said the WHO.

Deposited with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the FCTC will be available for signature at the UN headquarters in New York fromJune 30, 2003 to June 29, 2004.

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