RIYADH, 28 February 2005 — The Kingdom will soon ratify the world’s first tobacco control treaty which came into effect yesterday. The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was signed by the Kingdom on June 24 last year.
The ratifying nations will impose a ban on tobacco advertising, place graphic health warnings on cigarette packets, take measures to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, increase the cost of tobacco products and make efforts to stop tobacco smuggling.
Approved by WHO’s 192 member states in May 2003, the pact aimed at dissuading children from smoking and helping adults kick the habit became law yesterday, 90 days after the 40th state had ratified it. Thus far 168 nations have signed the treaty but only 57 have ratified it. It will go into effect in other nations as they approve it. Governments will have three to five years to change their laws in order to reflect the treaty’s mandates.
Countries which have approved the treaty include India, Japan, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey. In addition, cigarette manufacturers including Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey have ratified the treaty.
“Saudi Arabia actively participated in the negotiating sessions and the working groups that led to the implementation of the Convention,” said the supervisor of Tobacco Control at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al-Bedah.
He pointed out that the Kingdom had introduced regulations which ban smoking in public places. Tobacco advertisements are also banned and health warnings are printed on cigarette packets. “Increasing the price of tobacco in the Kingdom is under study,” the supervisor added. The recent GCC health minister’s conference in Muscat recommended an increase of 50 percent on tobacco prices to discourage smoking.
Tobacco use is the second leading cause of preventable deaths after hypertension globally today. With 4.9 million tobacco-related deaths per year, no other product is as dangerous. “With the adoption of a new international treaty, the scene is now set to protect people from the devastating impact of tobacco consumption as well as the exposure to tobacco smoke,” Dr. Bedah explained.
Another Ministry of Health official, Abdul Aziz Al-Hudaithi, said the Kingdom was making constructive efforts to reduce the use of tobacco. He added that the Ministry of Health had set up 21 anti-smoking clinics in major cities and 10 more would be established by the end of this year. These clinics, he said, offer counseling services for smokers to help them break the habit and give medical advice to treat tobacco-related diseases and convince people to stop smoking.
He pointed out that a pavilion had been set up at Janadriya to highlight the dangers of smoking through pamphlets and video clippings. Hudaithi said elaborate arrangements are being made by the ministry to launch a nationwide campaign.
