A global ban on tobacco advertising, for which Ireland is lobbying within the World Health Organisation (WHO), is now looking increasingly likely, according to delegates at the latest round of talks in Geneva yesterday.
The director of the WHO, Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland, said there was strong support for the ban, although a final agreement was some months off. "The expression of interest in the direction of a ban has been very strong," she said. "Very many delegations have had very strong opinions on that question, maybe more than many would have believed."
Ireland is one of the leading countries campaigning for the global ban. It recently spearheaded a representation on the matter to the WHO on behalf of 24 mainly European countries.
Dr Fenton Howell, chairman of the anti-smoking group ASH Ireland and a member of the Irish delegation, said yesterday: "I would be hopeful at this point that we will get something positive on advertising in the final text."
The US, Germany and Japan have emerged as the main opponents to the ban. The first two claim it violates constitutional guarantees of free speech, while Japan has come under pressure from its domestic tobacco industry.
"The three have been very obstructive," said Dr Howell. "The EU has been pretty good on the issue but Ireland has been leading in a big way.
"Whatever the outcome I think this has raised awareness and has highlighted countries which in many respects have put the tobacco industry above public health."
Dr Howell, who has been attending recent rounds of talks but was unable to be in Switzerland yesterday, was appointed to the delegation in his capacity as a public health doctor with the North Eastern Health Board.
Other members of the delegation include officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Health and Children.
More than half of the 192 countries affiliated to the WHO are now said to support the ban. Strong support has emerged from developing countries in Africa and south-east Asia where concern has grown about the burden of tobacco-related illnesses on local health care systems.
The WHO has set a deadline of next May for adopting the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and is trying to get the negotiations wrapped up by February.
"On the advertising question, I don't think one can make some kind of conclusion at this moment about exactly where we are," said Ms Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister.
However, Brazilian ambassador Mr Luis Felipe da Seixa Correa, who is chairing the negotiations, said they were moving forward. "We are now closer than ever before to our final goal, not only in time but in substance," he said.
The extent of the proposed advertising ban has been one of the key sticking points in two years of talks on the treaty, along with compensation for smoking victims and financial adjustments for tobacco farmers in developing countries that shift to other crops.
Consensus is also being sought on issues such as youth smoking, smuggling, the need to raise tobacco taxes, passive smoking and rules on labelling and packaging of cigarettes.
The WHO is pushing for a strong treaty to curb an estimated 4.9 million smoking-related deaths a year worldwide, a figure which is expected to double in the next 30 years.
