International Tobacco Control Legislative Package

URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO INCLUDE THE INTERNATIONAL TOBACCO CONTROL LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE IN ANY NATIONAL TOBACCO LEGISLATION, INCLUDING THE “BIPARTISAN NO TOBACCO FOR KIDS ACT OF 1998.”

WHEREAS, US tobacco companies have shifted their focus to international markets to ensure their growth and profits since only four 4 percent of the world's smokers live in the US; and

WHEREAS, smoking kills more than 2.5 million people outside of the US each year; and,

WHEREAS, Philip Morris, makers of Marlboro cigarettes, and RJ Reynolds, maker of Camel cigarettes are two of the world three leading global with nearly two-thirds of their sales and nearly half of their profits coming from international markets; and,

WHEREAS, These US tobacco companies have aggressively expanded their markets abroad by employing manipulative and deceptive advertising, sponsorship and marketing techniques that target international communities, especially children; and,

WHEREAS, The US tobacco companies have been moving their growing and manufacturing overseas where costs are lower and markets are larger; and,

WHEREAS, The US tobacco companies determine which pesticides will be used in tobacco grown in other countries; and

WHEREAS, growing tobacco uses large amounts of pesticides which cause farm workers to get sick, the soil to be depleted and useless, causes contamination of water, and contributes to starvation because the land in not used to grow food; and,

WHEREAS, Beadies, an Indian cigarette containing seven percent more nicotine than cigarettes, are sold easily to low income youth in San Francisco causing lung, mouth, and throat cancer and seventy percent of the beadies purchased in one study in San Francisco did not contain an warning label; and,

WHEREAS, the Tenth World Conference on Tobacco and Health passed a resolution calling on governments to consider the international implications of tobacco control policies or settlements with the tobacco industry to ensure that such measure do not contribute to an increase in the worldwide epidemic of tobacco related death and disease; and ,

WHEREAS, The World Health Organization estimates that 300 billion cigarettes - one third of the total produces for export each year - are lost somewhere between the factory and final destination, which allows people to purchase foreign cigarettes at much lower prices; and,

WHEREAS, The City and County of San Francisco has passed Resolution Number 924-97 , calling on the US Congress to avoid doing international public health harm and pass US global tobacco control legislation that sets a floor on the worldwide practices of US tobacco companies, their subsidiaries and those firms over which they exercise defacto control(including trademark licensees), without limiting the ability of countries to require companies to exceed the global minimum standard; and

WHEREAS, The International Tobacco Control Legislative Package bans US government funds from being used to promote US tobacco overseas, provides funds and technical assistance to overseas anti-tobacco groups, establishes a code of conduct for US tobacco companies to print health warning labels on products sold overseas which are as stringent as those required in the United States, imposes strong anti-smuggling provisions and also prohibits US tobacco companies from selling, advertising or marketing tobacco products to children in other countries in ways not permitted in the United States; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors urges the United States Congress to include the International Tobacco Control Legislative Package in any national tobacco legislation,; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That any US global tobacco control legislation require US regulations with respect to tobacco production, marketing and advertising, and warning labels apply equally to tobacco products in the US or exported abroad; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That any international trade agreement, such as NAFTA or the MAI, ensure that human health is protected and also maintain the ability of countries to regulate tobacco so as to protect the health of their own citizens; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Board forward this resolution to President Clinton, US Congressional Representatives Pelosi and Lantos and US Senators Feinstein and Boxer.

Adopted - Board of Supervisors, San Francisco June 15, 1998

Ayes: Supervisors Ammiano, Bierman, Brown, Katz, Kaufman, Leno, Medina, Newsom, Teng, Yaki, Lee

I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco.

John Taylor, Clerk of the Board

Barbara Kaufman
Acting Mayor

Date Approved: June 25, 1998

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