The Tobacco Treaty Turns Ten
The WHO’s tobacco treaty in 2005 was hailed as a crucial tool for controlling one of the world’s most lethal substances and as a model for confronting other global health problems. Ten years later it is a qualified success, write CFR’s Thomas J. Bollyky and David P. Fidler.
By experts and staff
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Experts
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By Thomas J. BollykyBloomberg Chair in Global Health; Senior Fellow for International Economics, Law, and Development; and Director of the Global Health Program
By
- David P. FidlerSenior Fellow for Global Health and Cybersecurity
Can international law protect global health from a man-made menace? The World Health Organization (WHO) certainly thought so in adopting the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), which entered into force on February 27, 2005.
Supporters hailed the FCTC as a critical tool for international tobacco control and as a bold new model for using international law on other global health problems. Calls for more treaties followed on topics as wide ranging as excessive alcohol consumption, antibiotic resistance, counterfeit medicines, and corruption in health systems.
A decade later, the FCTC has been ratified by 180 countries representing nearly 90 percent of the world’s population. It is a qualified success for improving tobacco control. Yet the reasons for its success are unlikely to be replicated for other global health threats, and the convention offers lessons on the limits of improving global health through international law.
