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GENEVA -- The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global anti-smoking treaty, officially went into effect Sunday.
The convention was unanimously adopted by the World Health Organization in May 2003. With ratification by the 40th member nation on Nov. 30 last year, it attained the status of an international treaty, going into effect 90 days after.
The first international treaty dealing with public health, the convention calls for a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising. Signatories must ban all tobacco advertising within five years of the treaty¡¯s going into effect and increase the size of warning labels on cigarette packs by 30 percent within three years.
Tobacco is currently estimated to cause some 5 million deaths a year. The WTO warns that if smoking patterns do not change, the number could rise to 10 million a year.
As of Sunday, 57 nations have ratified the treaty, and for the 40 countries that ratified it by last November, it takes effect immediately. For the additional 17 nations, it goes into effect 90 days from the date they ratified the treaty.
The 57 nations include the U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand and Singapore. Korea, the U.S., China and Brazil have signed the treaty but have yet to ratify it. Russia has yet to sign.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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