The World Health Organisation (WHO) started five days of negotiations today aimed at reaching the first ever international treaty to curb smoking.
Attacked by cigarette companies for unnecessary meddling and accused by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of lack of ambition, delegates from some 190 countries sought common ground on how to wean the world off tobacco.
The WHO, which says four million people die every year from tobacco-related diseases, launched its bid for a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Geneva last October.
The United Nations' health body has said it wants the FCTC to be formally ratified and in place by 2003.
The draft puts severe restrictions on tobacco advertising and calls for the gradual elimination of sponsorship of sporting events by cigarette companies - which are, for example, currently big backers of Formula One motor racing.
Governments would also commit themselves to using price as a weapon to deter smoking by seeking to bring the international cost of cigarettes into line everywhere, both as a means to deter the young from taking up the habit and to curtail smuggling across borders.
The tobacco industry, which has been hit by lawsuits brought by cancer sufferers in the United States, should be held responsible for the harm its products cause to public health and the environment, it added.
But the draft said action against the multi-billion dollar industry would be left to individual signatory states to decide.
Reuters