Title: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE IH SECTION MEETINGS AT 2003 APHA ANNUAL MEETING
Author:
Section/SPIG: International Health
Issue Date:
I. IH SECTION LUNCHEON ADDRESS by Thomas E. Novotny, MD MPH, University of California, San Francisco, USA - Globalization and Tobacco Control: Why Borders Don’t Matter
Novotny was Chief Negotiator for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in the Clinton administration. He stepped down from his position as Deputy Assistant Secretary in part because of conflicts with the Bush administration on their tobacco control positions. These were no longer representative of either scientific or sensible advocacy positions. He addressed tobacco use as a global public health problem, including the determinants of tobacco use, business ethics and tobacco production, tobacco control compared with other multinational regulatory efforts, tobacco control in terms of social justice, and the challenge of reframing global tobacco control as a bioethical issue. Since much of U.S. foreign policy is cloaked in moralistic terms, he challenged the White House to sign and support ratification of the FCTC on ethical grounds.
Given open borders and the movements of goods, people, and ideas across them, globalization permits the transmission of health risks, infectious or noninfectious. This porosity challenges governments to protect the health of citizens, both in developing and developed countries; compounding this situation, public health systems suffer from lack basic infrastructure. Cognitive globalization, or social learning, of tobacco use through advertising, promotion, movies, and other normalization creates a borderless market for manufactured cigarettes and a major global health disaster. National regulatory approaches are difficult to implement in the face of this global onslaught. Thus, treaties are vehicles to address tobacco and other transborder health issues. The multinational approach, rather than overriding national sovereignty, actually supports the rights of nations to protect the health of their citizens through collective action; in the case of tobacco as a legal product, multinational action must be engaged to overcome the economic and political pressures created by tobacco companies in opening up markets. This global approach will assure individual autonomy, beneficence, and non-malfeasance as bioethical mandates for global tobacco control. The FCTC was approved by consensus at the May 2003 World Health Assembly. It has yet to be signed by President Bush, and even if he does sign the treaty, it is unlikely to be ratified by the Senate. Public health professionals should advocate for support this treaty as a moral, bioethically important issue. It is necessary for us as a leading nation in health research and public health practice to assure that all the global population has a right to a healthy life without tobacco.
II. IH SECTION MEETING AND EVENTS MINUTES
- IH Section Leadership Meeting I, Sunday, Nov. 16, 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
- IH Business Meeting II, Monday, Nov. 17, 7 a.m.-8:30 a.m.
- IH Section Awards Ceremony, Thirsty Bear Brewing Company, Monday, Nov. 17 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m.
- IH Business Meeting III, Tuesday, Nov. 18 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
- IH Section Luncheon, Speaker: Tom Novotny, University of California, San Francisco, Globalization and Tobacco Control: Why Borders don’t Matter (Presentation is posted on IH Section Web site: <www.apha-ih.org>), Wednesday, Nov. 19, 12:30-2 p.m.