World No Tobacco Day - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

World No Tobacco Day is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

consumption across the globe. The day is further intended to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to 5.4 million deaths worldwide annually. The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. In the past twenty years, the day has been met with both enthusiasm and resistance across the globe from governments, public health organizations, smokers, growers, and the tobacco industry.

WHO and World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day is one of many other world health awareness days throughout the year organized by the WHO, including World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day , is a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries.This day, each October...

, World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...

, and World Blood Donor Day, among others.

Timeline

In 1987, the World Health Assembly
World Health Assembly
The World Health Assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states....

of the WHO passed Resolution WHA40.38, calling for April 7, 1988 to be "a world no-smoking day". April 7, 1988 was the 40th anniversary of the WHO. The objective of the day was to urge tobacco users worldwide to abstain from using tobacco products for 24 hours, an action they hoped would provide assistance for those trying to quit.
In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed by the World Health Assembly, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, every year on May 31. Since then, the WHO has supported World No Tobacco Day every year, linking each year to a different tobacco-related theme.
In 1998, the WHO established the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), an attempt to focus international resources and attention on the global health epidemic of tobacco. The initiative provides assistance for creating global public health policy, encourages mobilization across societies, and supports the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The WHO FCTC is a global public health treaty adopted in 2003 by countries across the globe as an agreement to implement policies that work towards tobacco cessation.
In 2008, on the eve of the World No Tobacco Day the WHO called for a worldwide ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. The theme of that year’s day was Tobacco-free youth; therefore, this initiative was especially meant to target advertising efforts aimed at youth. According to the WHO, the tobacco industry must replace older quitting or dying smokers with younger consumers. Because of this, marketing strategies are commonly observed in places that will attract youth such as movies, the Internet, billboards, and magazines. Studies have shown that the more youth are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to smoke.

Discussion

Each year, the WHO selects a theme for the day in order to create a more unified global message for WNTD. This theme then becomes the central component of the WHO’s tobacco-related agenda for the following year. The WHO oversees the creation and distribution of publicity materials related to the theme, including brochures, fliers, posters, websites, and press releases. In 2008 for the theme Tobacco-free youth, Youtube videos were created as a part of the WNTD awareness campaign, and podcasts were first used in 2009.

In many of its WNTD themes and related publicity-materials, the WHO emphasizes the idea of “truth.” Theme titles such as “Tobacco kills, don’t be duped” (2000) and “Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise” (2006) indicate a WHO belief that individuals may be misled or confused about the true nature of tobacco; the rationale for the 2000 and 2008 WNTD themes identify the marketing strategies and “illusions” created by the tobacco industry as a primary source of this confusion. The WHO’s WNTD materials present an alternate understanding of the “facts” as seen from a global public health perspective. WNTD publicity materials provide an “official” interpretation of the most up-to-date tobacco-related research and statistics and provide a common ground from which to formulate anti-tobacco arguments around the world.

List

2012 Tobacco Industry Interference
2011 The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
2010 Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women
2009 Tobacco health warnings
2008 Tobacco-free youth
2007 Smoke free inside
2006 Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise
2005 Health professionals against tobacco
2004 Tobacco and poverty, a vicious circle
2003 Tobacco free film, tobacco free fashion
2002 Tobacco free sports
2001 Second-hand smoke kills
2000 Tobacco kills, don't be duped
1999 Leave the pack behind
1998 Growing up without tobacco
1997 United for a tobacco free world
1996 Sport and art without tobacco: play it tobacco free
1995 Tobacco costs more than you think
1994 Media and tobacco: get the message across
1993 Health services: our windows to a tobacco free world
1992 Tobacco free workplaces: safer and healthier
1991 Public places and transport: better be tobacco free
1990 Childhood and youth without tobacco: growing up without tobacco
1989 Women and tobacco: the female smoker: at added risk
1988 Tobacco or Health: choose health

Event coordination

The WHO serves as a central hub for coordinating WNTD events around the world. The WHO website provides a place for groups to register their planned WNTD events. The WHO publishes this information, by country, on its website. The registry helps foster communication and awareness between groups (locally, nationally, and globally) interested in the public health effects of tobacco, and it also serves as a way for interested individuals to quickly see if there is an event in their area.

Awards

Since 1988 the WHO has presented one or more Awards to organizations or individuals who have made exceptional contributions to reducing tobacco consumption. World No Tobacco Day Awards are given to individuals from six different world regions (Africa, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific), and Director-General Special Awards and Recognition Certificates are given to individuals from any region.

Global observance

Groups around the world—from local clubs to city councils to national governments—are encouraged by the WHO to organize events each year to help communities celebrate World No Tobacco Day in their own way at the local level. Past events have included letter writing campaigns to government officials and local newspapers, marches, public debates, local and national publicity campaigns, anti-tobacco activist meetings, educational programming, and public art.

In addition, many governments use WNTD as the start date for implementing new smoking bans and tobacco control efforts. For example, on May 31, 2008, a section of the Smoke Free Ontario Act came into effect banning tobacco "power walls" and displays at stores, and all hospitals and government offices in Australia will become smoke free on May 31, 2010.

The day has also been used as a springboard for discussing the current and future state of a country as it relates to tobacco. For example, in India, (which, with 120 million smokers, has one of the highest rates of tobacco consumption in the world), a special section of the Indian journal Current Science, together with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, was published in time for WNTD, 2009. This section examined tobacco use and control in India in an attempt to spread awareness and build support for stricter tobacco control.

Resistance

For some, WNTD is nothing more than a “futile attempt to curb smoking” which has little to no visible effect in places like the former USSR, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. For others, WNTD is seen as a challenge to individual freedom of choice or even a culturally acceptable form of discrimination. From ignoring WNTD, to participating in protests or acts of defiance, to bookending the day with extra rounds of pro-tobacco advertisements and events, smokers, tobacco growers, and the tobacco industry have found ways to make their opinions of the day heard.

Smoker response

There has been no sustained or wide-spread effort to organize counter-WNTD events on the part of smokers. There is, however, an active community of smokers’ rights advocates who see the WNTD as unfairly singling them out and challenging their rights. The WHO maintains a listing of these organizations on its website.

Some small groups have created local pro-smoking events. For example, the Oregon Commentator

Oregon Commentator

The Oregon Commentator is a student publication at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded on September 27, 1983, and first published on October 24, 1983, it is a self-described "conservative journal of opinion," modeled after such publications as Harvard Lampoon and...

, an independent conservative journal of opinion published at the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

, hosted a “Great American Smoke-in” on campus as a counter to the locally more widespread Great American Smokeout

Great American Smokeout

The Great American Smokeout is a social engineering experiment on the third Thursday of November in the United States encouraging Americans to stop tobacco smoking. The American Cancer Society held its first Smokeout in San Francisco's Union Square Nov.16th 1977...

: “In response to the ever-increasing vilification of smokers on campus, the Oregon Commentator presents the Great American Smoke-in as an opportunity for students to join together and enjoy the pleasures of fine tobacco products.” Similarly, “Americans for Freedom of Choice” a group in Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

organized “World Defiance Day” in response to WNTD and Hawaii’s statewide ban on smoking in restaurants.

Industry response

Historically, the tobacco industry has supported initiatives that provide resources to help smokers quit smoking. For example, Phillip Morris USA operates a “Quit Assist” website that acts as a guide for those who choose to quit smoking. Acknowledging the fact that quitting is possible puts the power back into the hands of the individual and therefore alleviates responsibility from the tobacco companies. Additionally, advocating for cessation of smoking can allow companies to still advocate for alternative forms of tobacco, while cessation of tobacco would eliminate business completely .

World No Tobacco Days have not induced a positive vocal response from the tobacco industry. For example, a memo made publicly available through www.tobaccoarchives.com was sent out to executives of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company , based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, is the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S. . RJR is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc...

in preparation for the third annual World No Tobacco Day, which had the theme of “Childhood and Youth Without Tobacco.” The memo includes a warning about the upcoming day, a document that explains the arguments they anticipate the WHO making, and an explanation of how the company should respond to these claims. For example, in response to the anticipated argument that their advertisements target children, the company’s response includes arguments that claim their advertisements are targeted towards adults by using adult models, and that advertisements lack the power to influence what people will actually purchase. In Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

, since the World No Tobacco Day is the one day that the media is obligated to publicize tobacco control issues, the British American Tobacco company uses the eve of the day to administer counter-publicity. In 2001, their strategy included events such as a visit with the President of the International Tobacco Growers Association.

Unlike the tobacco industry, some big pharmaceutical companies do publicly support WNTD. For example, Pfizer

Pfizer

Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

was a large sponsor for many WNTD events in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

in 2008. At the time, Pfizer was preparing to release its drug Champix (Varenicline) into the Middle Eastern market. The drug was “designed to activate the nicotinic receptor to reduce both the severity of the smoker's craving and the withdrawal symptoms from nicotine.”

Grower response

Many tobacco growers feel that anti-tobacco efforts by organizations such as the WHO jeopardize their rights. For example, the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) argues that poor farmers in Africa may suffer the consequences if WHO anti-tobacco movements succeed. They also argue that these efforts may gang up on manufacturers of tobacco and be an attack on the industry, therefore hurting the growers.

External links

Celebrate World Tobacco Day Quit Smoking

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/05/world-no-tobacco-day.htm

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