27 November 2001 - immediate
Death-knell for ‘light'cigarettes sounds as tobacco treaty negotiations accelerate in Geneva
Geneva - Marlboro Lights may soon be a thing of the past -at least they wont be able to call them 'light'. Governments are set to agree a treaty that would place a globalban on misleading branding which includes words like light, ultra low andmild. Today, the National CancerInstitute of the US releases conclusive evidence [
Clive Bates, Director of ASH said:
“So-called light cigarettes representone of the most deadly consumer confidence tricks of all time. Tobacco manufacturers knew for at least 20years that these would offer smokers nothing but false reassurance, but wentahead and promoted them anyway.
“There must be thousands of smokerswho were fooled into thinking light cigarettes were a reason not to quit.
“It looks as though the new WHOtobacco treaty will create a global ban on these terms, which would be a majorachievement. It will probably mean awar with the tobacco industry over trademarks and intellectual property, butgovernments have to put life before brands.
Commenting on the conclusion of the latest round ofnegotiations of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Clive Batessaid:
“The treaty has advanced further and faster than we expected and thefinal text is beginning to emerge from the fog of bracketed proposals westarted with.
Support is gathering around a global ban on tobacco advertising,measures to tackle smuggling, bold clear warnings on every pack of cigarettessold and a ban on branding misleading.
“With four million people dying each year from tobacco diseases and setto rise to ten million over the next couple of decades, governments are finallygiving attention it deserves and getting serious about a global tobacco treaty.
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