Over 3.6 million tobacco-growing families in five of the “poverty-stricken African countries” may suffer the worst economic crisis if parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) approve the proposal by the organization to ban the use of ingredients in the manufacture of tobacco products, International Tobacco Growers' Association (ITGA) has warned.
About 171 parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) have gathered in Uruguay for November 15—20 conference where delegates are expected to discuss and adopt guidelines aimed at putting a restriction on the use of ingredients and flavourings in the production of cigarettes. The convention further aims at removing additives that make tobacco products attractive to smokers, especially the youth.
But the tobacco-growing countries are wary of the guidelines, fearing the ban would eliminate blended cigarettes that account for half of global consumption and drastically reduce the demand for burley and oriental tobacco used to make these products as a result.
In the Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) report released Friday, ITGA Chief Executive Officer, Antonio Abrunhosa, warns that a population of more than 3.6 million people in Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe should expect the historic economic devastation should delegates to the Uruguay CFTC conference agree to the proposal.
The adoption of the ban will also affect 12 million people who are directly and indirectly in the tobacco production sector, Abrunhosa says.
“This clearly shows what a devastating effect this could have in Africa and how important it is for the WHO to fully understand what proposals like these can lead to. Decisions taken behind closed doors like the ones about to be taken in Uruguay should not be tolerated; not when millions of livelihoods are on the line. It cannot be up to health ministers and anti-tobacco groups to decide on what and where farmers can grow. We call on governments that will attend the Uruguay meeting to put a stop to this before it’s too late,” he implores.
“If these WHO guidelines are adopted, some of Africa’s poorest countries that rely on tobacco growing are going to face huge social and economic crises with unprecedented job loss. Seventy percent of workers in Malawi alone are directly or indirectly employed by the tobacco-growing sector. They have no alternative and the WHO isn’t offering one either,” Abrunhosa argues.
ITGA alleges WHO rejected its request to attend the Uruguay conference where Abrunhosa would have presented the likely to be affected farmers’ grievances.
“More and more countries are questioning the approach taken by the WHO, starting with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which called on its 19 member states at a recent summit, to reject the WHO proposals and urged the WHO to provide for proper consultation mechanisms for the affected stakeholders. In September, the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) 15 member states endorsed a similar decision to oppose the WHO proposals, and in recent weeks, the African Union’s (AU) Ministers of Agriculture and Trade, including Malawi, have also expressed concern about the guidelines asking for decisions to be put back,” he explains.
But WHO through Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a civil society helping WHO in the development and implementation of FCTC, says the fears are baseless, arguing that, contrary to industry claims, its guidelines do not recommend a ban on burley tobacco, but rather cigarettes containing burley continue to be sold in countries with strong restrictions on flavourings.
The health body explains that the guidelines under contention only recommend that countries should “restrict or prohibit” flavourings that increase palatability, have colouring properties, create the impression of health benefits or are associated with energy and vitality.
Ministers of Agriculture and Finance could not be reached for a comment, but in an earlier interview, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Shadreck Jonasi told this reporter that Malawi supports ITGA in condemning the proposal.
Jonasi explained that government has already taken up the matter through Sadc and Comesa to use the bodies’ membership into the FCTC to lobby against the matter.
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