President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:

We are writing to urge you to instruct your administration not to derail the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)-the first global public health treaty. By demanding to re-open negotiations on its final text, which more than 170 countries agreed to on March 1st, your administration is seriously threatening the adoption of this groundbreaking treaty. A watered-down or delayed FCTC may mean millions more kids addicted to tobacco, tens of millions of additional deaths, and billions more dollars in health care costs.

You have noted that "tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in America." Health and Human Services Secretary Thompson has said that the United States is committed to a "strong and dynamic" treaty that can fight the "devastating health, economic and social consequences of worldwide tobacco consumption." Yet your administration recently indicated to the World Health Organization that the United States will not sign the treaty unless governments re-open negotiations and agree to insert language that would allow each country to pick and choose which parts of the treaty will apply to them.

A March 2003 editorial in the tobacco industry trade journal, Tobacco International, makes clear who benefits most from this tactic. The editorial expresses optimism that the United States effort to re-open the debate on reservations "could mean the unraveling of the entire treaty." By aligning its positions closely with leading campaign contributors like Philip Morris/Altria, your administration is simply strengthening the impression that Big Tobacco's future profits are doing more to shape U.S. policies than concern for public health.

As public interest organizations across the United States and the globe, we are concerned that the United States has developed a pattern in recent history of negotiating environmental, human rights and other important multilateral treaties down to the lowest common denominator, and then failing to support them when they are completed. The Kyoto Protocol, Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes, Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, and Landmine Ban Treaty provide a few examples of how the U.S. government has isolated itself from the global community on issues of enormous humanitarian and environmental consequence.

Recent publicity about your latest efforts to derail the FCTC comes at a time when concerns about U.S. unilateralism are particularly high. As organizations that span the globe, from a broad range of backgrounds, we are writing now to urge you to:

• Instruct your administration to abandon its efforts to reopen debate on the FCTC;
• Prevent your negotiators from trying to water down the final text in the days leading up to its adoption; and,
• Join the more than 170 countries committed to a strong, enforceable treaty by signing the text that was agreed upon in March, and actively supporting its prompt ratification by the United States and entry into force.

Sincerely,

For more information, please contact Glenn Wiser, or view: Will the U.S. join Worldwide Effort To Protect Public Health, or is it pay-back time for Big Tobacco campaign contributors?

This page last modified on 15 May 2003