Philanthropists
donate initial $4m towards legal advice for nations whose health measures are
challenged by tobacco industry, as in Uruguay and Australia
The Guardian, Sarah Boseley Health editor, Wednesday 18 March 2015
A $4m (£2.7m) fighting fund to help governments around the world in legal battles against the tobacco industry has been announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies, seeking to assist countries which are making slow progress curbing smoking.
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| The tobacco industry has invoked trade agreements in Uruguay against graphic health warnings and in Australia against ‘plain’ packs. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA |
A $4m (£2.7m) fighting fund to help governments around the world in legal battles against the tobacco industry has been announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies, seeking to assist countries which are making slow progress curbing smoking.
While
smoking is becoming a marginalised pastime in more affluent countries where
laws on smoking in public places are in force, there is concern about the
tobacco industry push-back that involves legal challenges to new measures such
as plain packaging.
The fund,
to which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also contributing, will give
countries the technical support of legal experts to draw up legislation as well
as defend court actions brought by tobacco companies. It is expected to grow as
other donors join in. Australia and Uruguay are two of the countries where
public health measures have been challenged by industry.
At the 16th
World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi, Margaret Chan, director
general of the World Health Organisation, also pointed to the danger.
“In an
ominous trend, in some countries the battle between tobacco and health has
moved into the courts,” she said. “Governments wishing to protect their
citizens through larger pictorial warnings on cigarette packs or by introducing
plain packaging are being intimidated by industry’s threats of lengthy and
costly litigation. This is an effort to deprive governments of their sovereign
right to legislate in the public interest. We will push back hard.”
Smoking
killed 10 million people in the last century and is predicted to cause 1
billion deaths this century. A global report launched at the conference found
there were 3.9 billion smokers aged 15 and over in WHO member states in 2010.
By 2025, that number is predicted to grow to 5 billion if the present pace of
tobacco control continues. Experts say the global target – to cut smoking
worldwide by 30% from 2010 levels by 2025 – will not be reached if more action
is not taken. Smoking rates have fallen for both men and women in most
countries, but only 37 nations are on course to meet the target.
The tobacco
industry has invoked trade agreements to counter anti-smoking measures – in
Uruguay against graphic health warnings on packaging and in Australia against
“plain” or unremarkable standardised packs.
“We are at
a critical moment in the global effort to reduce tobacco use, because the
significant gains we have seen are at risk of being undermined by the tobacco
industry’s use of trade agreements and litigation,” said Michael R Bloomberg.
“We will stand with nations as they work to protect their populations against
the deadly health effects of tobacco use.”
“Country
leaders who are trying to protect their citizens from the harms of tobacco
should not be deterred by threats of costly legal challenges from huge tobacco
companies,” said Bill Gates. “Australia won its first case, which sends a
strong message. But smaller, developing countries don’t have the same
resources. That’s why we are supporting the Anti-Tobacco Trade Litigation Fund
with Bloomberg Philanthropies.”
Related Article:
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
“… The Shift in Human Nature
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”
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