Philippines: Asia-Pacific NGO Pushes Exclusion of Tobacco from TPP

Source from:  InterAksyon.com (TV 5) (ph)  08/22/2013

A non-government organization (NGO) of academics, health professionals and public health advocates from across Asia Pacific have called on the 12 countries negotiating for a new regional free-trade agreement to exclude tobacco from the products covered by the deal.

In a statement, the Asia Pacific Association on Control of Tobacco for Health (APACT) said including tobacco in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would undo international efforts to restrict cigarette companies' advertising and to require graphic health warnings on their packaging.

The APACT is holding a conference of at least 700 participants in Chiba, Japan from August 19-22, or ahead of negotiations for the TPP in Brunei from August 23-31.

The TPP brings together 12 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.

"The TPP includes provisions that could restrict the policy space of health officials, in both national and subnational levels, to impose tobacco control measures," said Dr Mary Assunta, senior policy adviser of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

"For instance, the TPP is likely to require the government to consult with the tobacco industry before issuing a tobacco-related regulation through a regulatory impact assessment process which is projected to be included in the trade treaty," she said.

Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, a tobacco control expert from Thailand, said cited cases in his country where Philip Morris, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) sued the Thai government for increasing graphic health warnings on cigarette packs from 55 percent to 85 percent last month.

"Right now, the tobacco industry has filed five cases against us in local courts because of our policy to increase pack warning sizes to 85 percent. If Thailand joins the TPP, the multinational tobacco companies could use more arguments and could file even more cases," Prakit said.

Dr. Kiyochi Miyazaki, secretariat of the APACT 2013, said the TPP can be likened to efforts the US pursued in the late 1980s to force trading partners to accept free trade of tobacco products under the pain of economic sanctions.

The US has since adopted measures -- the Dogget Amendment and Executive Order 13193 -- that barred the use of government funds to promote tobacco exports.

"The TPP could present a potentially more damaging version of the situation in the 1980s. Then, Thailand faced one foreign power, the US, but with the TPP, many foreign powers as well as the multinational tobacco companies could use the trade pact to further challenge government efforts to save millions of lives through a broad range of tobacco control measures," Dr. Judith Mackay, an APACT founder, said.

"It is only apt that the APACT would come together again to ensure that tobacco control does not suffer from the wide ramifications of this free trade and investment treaty," she said.

Other Asia Pacific countries such as Republic of Korea, Thailand and Philippines -- all members of APEC -- have been encouraged to join the TPP negotiations. Enditem