Welcome back to Copwatch’s COP Live reporting on FCTCCOP11. Here we bring you our observations and impressions on day four.
COP11 business
See the official Journal for today’s events, the programme of work and a report on yesterday. From the GATC and ASH bulletins we learn that work continued late into the night. Perhaps the authors went to bed before the work stopped – they don’t report that a decision was reached on 4.1 (the so called ‘forward looking’ measures), we gathered that from the Journal.
The ASH bulletin includes that there is debate ongoing in the discussions on agenda items 4.2 ( Article 19, Liability) and 4.3 (Article 18, Environment).
Decision on 4.1 – the so called ‘forward looking measures’
This is from today’s Journal (day 4):
It will be interesting to see what was agreed, as this was a highly controversial agenda item, as many countries pointed out in their statements in the streamed plenary sessions. (We hope to bring you more on those country statements later, if we get time – there are many more interesting statements than at the last COP)
At the time of writing, the decision for 4.1 had not yet been published on this decisions page on the COP11 site: https://storage.googleapis.com/who-fctc-cop11/Decisions/index.html
GATC awards
As Jake Maderazo reminds us, in his excellent ‘The Misuse of Tobacco-Control Awards’, the ghastly Orchid and Ashtray awards are orchestrated by an outside observer. That is the role conferred on GATC by the treaty – GATC is merely an ‘outside observer’. Maderazo writes:
“The Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC), which hands out these “awards”, is merely an observer. When outside actors such as the GATC begin to masquerade as scorekeepers and moral arbiters—handing out Orchids and Ashtrays according to a narrow ideological script—the clarity of that architecture erodes.”
Yesterday, Brazil got the pat on the back and Tajikistan the slap on the wrist:
Of course, these awards are designed to influence discussions taking place behind closed doors – thoroughly debasing the complex business of negotiation between sovereign nations. The Orchid is always given for following the Bloomberg funded cabal’s wishes. The Ashtray is more interesting, as it hints at the obstacles to those wishes.
Tajikistan’s ‘sin‘
So, what has Tajikistan done to deserve today’s Ashtray? Their statement from the live streamed plenary debate (3rd session) was fairly innocuous. Their statement included a call for “open evidence-based dialogue on all types of tobacco and nicotine products”, but then, so did many other country statements.
So, the misdemeanour must have occurred behind closed doors. The reason given for putting Tajikistan on the naughty step are that they have dared to suggest that illicit trade might be an obstacle. For anyone following tobacco related events in the real world, the issues around illicit trade are urgent and real – Australia is the poster child for this. But for GATC and the other Bloomberg allies, illicit trade is an inconvenient truth. In Trumpian style, an inconvenient truth simply isn’t a truth and anyone who says otherwise is an enemy.
When opportunities are threats
More upside down thinking from GATC in their article ‘Strengthening Tobacco Control: Principles for Addressing Non-Medicinal Nicotine Products’. This presents a very one sided view on how products should be regulated.
A reminder to any delegates reading this:
“The Parties have not reached any sort of consensus on regulating ENDS or other reduced risk products, other than that they should be regulated in some way – no one disputes that. The question that the Parties wish to address is how to regulate these products in the public interest, taking account of both risks and opportunities, in a world of 1 billion people who smoke, ongoing demand for nicotine, and high potential for illicit trade in response to excessive regulation.”
Taken from Clive Bates’ Commentary on FCTC/COP/11/10
GATC sees all products as a risk. This is a denial of the real world evidence that safer alternatives to risky tobacco use are reducing smoking, in countries such as New Zealand, Japan, Sweden and the UK. See Clive Bates’ evidence briefs for policy makers for a thorough look at the evidence available.
And, we’d like to highlight the importance of the Cochrane gold standard reviews. Since its first publication in 2014, the Cochrane Review on e-cigarettes for smoking cessation has been published as a “living systematic review”. It has been regularly updated as new evidence becomes available – the latest was published just ten days ago:
Despite being the gold standard, Cochrane’s review on e-cigarettes is omitted from all WHO and Bloomberg NGO publications – including GATC’s article from today. Another of those inconvenient truths!
And, published in the BMJ just two days ago, Sarah Jackson’s Rapid response brings some common sense to bear on GATC’s excessively precautionary approach:
“Protecting children is essential, and inappropriate youth exposure to nicotine requires balanced regulation. However, using the Convention for the Rights of the Child to justify an overarching goal to reduce vaping among children neglects meaningful harm-reduction benefits and may lead to near identical regulation of e-cigarettes and cigarettes that inadvertently entrenches smoking. A balanced, evidence-led approach that acknowledges a dual goal to also maximise the opportunities of vaping to help adults quit smoking would better advance the Convention’s aims.”
Rapid response to: How e-cigarettes compromise children’s human rights, BMJ
Back to the GATC article – notice the emphasis which GATC added to this footnote:
Don’t worry, pharma – GATC has your back!
Ashtrays in the wild
We do feel sorry for some of the COP11 delegates – exposed to much misinformation about safer alternatives, it is no wonder they find it hard to quit smoking. Yesterday’s Ola Journal showed an ashtray with signs of recent use, outside the Geneva International Conference Center. (The ashtray was removed, soon after the picture had been published)
Happily, some kind advocates for tobacco harm reduction could pass by the venue later, to demonstrate to COP11 delegates how it’s done (you can thank them later!).
You are welcome at Good COP 2.0
The conversation you can join is TPA’s Good COP 2.0, which is taking place in Geneva and streamed on YouTube. Everyone is welcome – if you are in Geneva and want to stop by just go to Hotel Royal Geneve and pick up a guest lanyard from the TPA reception desk on the first floor. Check out the programme for the sessions and speakers. Today’s reviewed the highlights from the opening plenary statements, discussed Michael Bloomberg’s philanthro-colonialism, asked why institutions which claim to want an end to smoking oppose practical solutions which can work, and delved into the situation and future of harm reduction in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Visit TPA’s YouTube channel to stream the live sessions and also watch back on the past two days. And, catch this morning’s RegWatch special coverage of Good COP 2.0 here.
That’s all for today
#THRWorks
