Dr Len posted an excellent detailed resume of this session. I have selected below the part concerning Patricia Lambert's presentation. LISTEN
The next speaker was Patricia Lambert from South Africa South Africa
She started her advocacy at age 5, when she vomited in the car and blamed her parents smoking for her ailment. She has been an advocate ever since.
Her comments were personal and at times hard hitting. She pulled few punches in criticizing the process through which the FCTC came to life and how it almost met is demise.
Ms. Lambert was passionate in her thanks to “all the epidemiologists and other scientists, to the health professionals, the civil society organizations, the lawyers, the politicians national and local, the policy advisors, the government workers, the diplomats and the leaders and members of international organization, as a citizen of an increasingly fractious and fragile world, I thank you for your efforts.” The statement brought tears to her eyes.
“What you have done benefits us all, and most importantly the children today, and the children and adults tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow. A tobacco free world is no longer impossibility. The FCTC will be a cornerstone of a tobacco free world.”
She was asked to present her view of the FCTC from the viewpoint of a personal critical analysis.
She described the treaty as a milestone in public health law. The convention sets up most of the internationally accepted public health standards for public health and tobacco control. If ratified, the standards become binding.
She described the document as a miracle. Whether it is a large or small one remains to be seen, she noted.
Ms. Lambert commented further that it wasn’t easy to survive the long hours of discussion and negotiation. The draft document was feeble and virtually meaningless, leading to shock and dismay. It ignored 5 previous rounds of negotiation. Her disappointment at the first draft was clear through the next several comments, with the feeling that many of the commitments that had been negotiated were subjected to political considerations and considerably weakened.
First, despite evidence that advertising bans have dramatic effects on tobacco consumption and childhood addiction, the draft called only for restrictions. The advocates believed that restrictions were weak and would help the tobacco industry.
For another example, she said that the draft was silent on the issue of tobacco trade, another area of intense interest. Too difficult, said the chairman. We need to be aware of what is possible, not what is desirable.
But there were protests from many participants. International measures were needed to curb the pandemic. Compromise is a necessary part of any negotiation according to Ms. Lambert. But the context of compromise is just as important, and each context is different.
In the case of tobacco control, compromise can be damning. Horse-trading about life itself is not acceptable. The strongest possible treaty was needed. It is NOT just another product and the industry is not just another group of companies. Trade cannot be more important than health.
She could not personally compromise.
Greater shocks were to follow, Ms. Lambert continued.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General gave her unqualified support to the watered down text. The participants had thought the WHO would have asked for the strongest possible controls, but they did not. The DG should never have reversed her stance, and it smacked of political expediency. “We had been looking to WHO for leadership, and many developing countries shared anger and disillusionment. Trust had been broken,” said Ms. Lambert.
These issues are no longer relevant, since many were resolved. There is one reason to discuss them today. In her opinion, to ignore them would endanger the treaty we worked so hard to get in the first place.
Some of the greatest challenges in implementing the FCTC have their roots in the text as it presently stands and the relationships that were fractured.
There is an unquestionable political dimension to the entire process of the treaty and tobacco control in general. “Underlying the politics of tobacco control is always the question of money,” Ms. Lambert said, repeating, “Power and money. Money and power.”
The FCTC is a miracle and a diamond. It is the jewel in the crown of tobacco control and international public health.
The treaty succeeds at many levels. It condemns tobacco company interference, and places priority on the needs of developing countries and women. We cannot let the forces of money and power to undermine the work we need to do and that we have already done.
The document sets the floor for control and not the ceiling. The FCTC is the lowest threshold that a ratifying country needs to achieve. Any country can do more to achieve the best possible tobacco control.
She commented that the fractured relationships are healing and will continue to heal. She pointed out that success is based on the need for close, meaningful collaborative, working relationships. They are vital for the successful implementation of the treaty.
She then took on the issue of the United Nations, with several episodes of applause from the audience.
“The entire UN system is under attack. Unfortunately, the
United States
is at the forefront of the attack,” she said.
There is criticism from the developing world which does not agree that the
United States
should have more influence in the United Nations because it pays more money in support. “No single country, no matter how powerful, should have undue influence over international bodies,” she said.
She concluded with the observation that we have to protect the treaty in every way that we can. We need to be alert to the combined influences of money and power. We need to work with vigor and energy alongside the WHO to make the treaty a success. “It is, after all ladies and gentlemen, a matter of life and death.”
Patricia Lambert's presentation was perfect actually a lot of people was talking about the perfect speech she gave us, there were many point of view in order to taking into account.
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