The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Free trade agreements are rapidly proliferating, with important consequences for tobacco control. This presentation aims to explore the public health risks of the expanding tobacco trade, and examine mitigation strategies.

Methods: The presentation will explore the landscape of international trade agreements, and their underlying principles and core terms.

Results: Free trade in tobacco results in higher smoking rates. Opening domestic markets to tobacco product imports leads to enhanced price and product competition and intensified marketing efforts.

The non-tariff provisions of trade agreements also pose threats to appropriate tobacco control policy. For example, strong mandated protection for intellectual property -- patents, copyright, trademark and trade secrets -- may conflict with good public health policy. In Canada, Brazil, Thailand and elsewhere, tobacco companies have argued that large health warnings, plain packaging rules and bans on the use of misleading descriptors ("light," "mild" and "low") violate their trademark rights under trade agreements. They also have argued that ingredient disclosure rules violate their trade secret rights.

The simplest way to avert these harms is to exclude tobacco from international trade agreements, and there is some precedent for doing so. Other pro-public health measures include requiring a public health impact assessment before trade deals are entered into, and including terms in trade agreements specifying that, in cases of conflict, the terms of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control should prevail.