New Delhi Declaration: Implement WHO convention on tobacco control

NEW DELHI, Dec 11: Dele-gates at a tobacco control con-ference adopted the New Delhi Declaration Sunday, calling on governments to urgently imple-ment comprehensive tobacco control legislation.

"We must face this challenge of phasing out tobacco from the face of the earth," said a delegate during her speech. "Let us build a tobacco free world and give our next generation a peaceful world."

Organised by the World Health Organisation, the three-day conference brought together lawyers, journalists, civil servants, health professionals, scientists and experts from around the globe.

The declaration recommended governments implement the World Health Organisation's convention on tobacco control by 2003 in order to encourage comprehensive national tobacco control and global co-ordination.

The declaration stated tobacco consumption and exposure to second hand smoke are linked to numerous diseases, disability and death.

It recognised that cigarettes are among the most highly engineered consumer products, containing over 4000 toxic and cancerous compounds, designed to create and maintain addiction.

The declaration said about 4 million people die each year from tobacco related diseases and this number is expected to increase to 10 million deaths per year, 70 per cent of those in developing nations, in the next 25 years.

The declaration stated the dramatic increase in the world-wide consumption and production of tobacco products was a major concern, and tobacco industries should be held liable at the national and international level.

The WHO should co-ordinate closely with regional and international trade organisations to ensure that tobacco control measures and trade liberalisation measures are complementary.

The non-governmental organisations, health professionals, women, youth, consumers and environmental groups, academic institutions, private industries and members of the civil society should help address this issue, the declaration stated.