The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a treaty adopted unanimously by the 56th World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003. It became the world's first international public health treaty when it came into force on February 27, 2005. The treaty has been signed by 168 countries and is legally binding in 61 ratifying countries representing 2.3 billion people. A treaty is a binding agreement under international law concluded by subjects of international law, namely states and international organizations. ... The World Health Assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 192 member states. ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... This article describes a type of political entity. ... Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... Ratification - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

The treaty is sponsored by the World Health Organization's Tobacco Free Initiative, an organization dedicated to reducing the health effects of tobacco use. The Tobacco Free Initiative is part of the WHO Noncommunicable Disease and Mental Health Division based in Geneva, Switzerland. For other meanings of the acronym WHO, see WHO (disambiguation) WHO flag Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization (WHO) is an agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health. ... Health effects, health impacts or health risks are an important consideration in many areas, such as hygiene, pollution studies, workplace safety, nutrition and health sciences in general. ... Coat of arms of the Canton of Geneva Coat of arms of the City of Geneva Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra, Romansh Genevra, Spanish: Ginebra) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich), located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac de Genève or Lac L...

The purpose of the treaty is to set broad limits on the production, sale, distribution, advertisement, taxation, and government policies towards tobacco.

The tobacco industry has sought to limit the influence of this treaty but with limited success. Most nations worldwide are finding that ever larger numbers of their citizens are either getting ill and dying of lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. Since national health systems in many nations pay for treatment of these diseases, there is a strong financial incentive for governments to control spending on health and thus discourage tobacco use. The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. ... The incidence of lung cancer is highly correlated with smoking. ... There are different forms of heart disease: Coronary heart disease Ischaemic heart disease Cardiovascular disease The study of heart disease is Cardiology This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Publicly funded medicine is a level of medical service that is paid wholly or in majority part by public funds (taxes or quasi-taxes). ...

Requirements

A partial list of requirements for signatory nations is that they are:

• required to ban cigarette advertising, unless their constitutions forbid it;
• encouraged to increase tobacco taxes (thus discouraging its use);
• required to force cigarette makers to increase the size of health warnings so they take up at least 30 percent of the package cover.
• obligated to restrict or prohibit smoking in many types of public places, especially commercial establishments.

External links

• WHO Treaty Page (http://www.who.int/features/2003/08/en/)
• List of signatory nations with status on having signed and ratified the treaty (http://www.who.int/tobacco/areas/framework/signing_ceremony/countrylist/en/)
• WHO FCTC signatories (http://www.who.int/tobacco/framework/countrylist/en/)
• UN press release on the treaty's coming into force (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12685&Cr=tobacco&Cr1=)
• World's First Anti-Tobacco Treaty Goes into Force (http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-27-voa6.cfm)
• Global Tobacco Treaty 'Historical Moment in Public Health' (http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/000431/31/)