Today ( Monday 17) a conference convened by World Health Organisation (WHO) aimed at curbing the spread of tobacco products worldwide starts in Durban.

This is the third meeting of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty that already has the support of 160 countries worldwide and binds signatories to measures aimed at cutting down on smoking ‘€“ a major cause of a number of illnesses particularly cancer.

According to the WHO, tobacco use kills about 5.5 million people every year with 70 percent of the deaths occurring in developing countries.

‘€œAfrican countries are experiencing the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use amongst developing countries,’€ according to the WHO. ‘€œIn the African region, tobacco consumption is increasing by 4.3 percent per year.’€

But Africa is finally starting to fight back. Some 42 African countries have already signed the WHO tobacco control treaty that binds them to a number of anti-tobacco measures, including high taxes on tobacco products and protecting people from exposure to tobacco smoke.

In addition, yesterday (16 November) the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) was launched in Durban to encourage aggressive tobacco control measures in sub-Saharan Africa.

ATCRI is being supported by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Cancer Research UK and will be hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).

‘€œThis is an important and long-overdue initiative.   There is significant concern that if current smoking patterns continue, Africa will be faced with the loss of millions of her people to tobacco-related disease within the next few years and also be faced with major infrastructure challenges to manage and treat these chronic diseases,’€ said Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of ERA/FoEN.

Cassandra Welch of the American Cancer Society said that the USA spent $5-billion in direct healthcare costs every year to treat people for tobacco-related illnesses.

‘€œSmoking kills one-third of all smokers eventually. It affects every part of the body, including almost every kind of cancer as well as heart disease and strokes,’€ said Welch. ‘€œAfrica offers hope because it still has fairly low levels of smoking, particularly among women. So there is an opportunity to stop this epidemic. But countries need to have very strong regulations because this picture is changing very fast. An increase of even two to three percent of women smoking, for example, could have devastating consequences for African healthcare systems.’€

Jean King of Cancer Research UK said, ‘€œWe recognise that while we, in the , have had some success in reducing the burden of tobacco addiction, our success has meant the tobacco industry has moved to develop new markets elsewhere around the world.   In a sense, the west has exported the tobacco epidemic to Africa.’€

South Africa is leading the continent in its anti-smoking legislation. Huge taxes on cigarettes, which has more than doubled prices over a decade, plus a ban on cigarette advertisements has resulted in a steady decrease in cigarette consumption.

Research by University of Cape Town economics lecturer Dr Corne van Walbeek found that cigarette consumption was cut by a third in South Africa between 1993 and 2003, largely as a result in price increases of over 100%.

Meanwhile, last November Nigeria launched a lawsuit against the tobacco industry, opting to seek US$42.4 billion in reparations from British-American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, and International Tobacco Ltd for damage they have caused to Nigerians’€™ health.

Similar law suits are also underway in the Nigerian states of Lagos, Kano and Gombe, which are seeking money to cover the healthcare costs of treating smokers. Over 30 million Nigerians smoke, according to a survey by Environmental Rights Action.

Lawyers have presented evidence of how the companies marketed cigarettes to young people in particular, and are seeking a ban on the sale of tobacco products within a one-kilometre radius of schools, hospitals and other areas where young people gather.

Seun Akioye, media officer for ERA, says that tobacco companies have been trying particularly hard to get young people to smoke to create ‘€œa life-long market’€. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive and most smokers battle to quit as they have become addicted to nicotine.

Before cigarette advertising was banned in Nigeria in 2004, the British American Tobacco (BAT) ran advertisements portraying smoking as ‘€œglamorous’€ and sponsored entertainment events aimed at young people where free cigarettes were handed out,’€ said Akioye.

Since the ban, the company has continued to hold ‘€œsecret smoking parties’€ aimed at young people, says Akioye. In addition, it has set up the BAT Foundation which, amongst other things, ‘€œdonates jeeps to the Nigerian customs and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, which should be a regulatory body overseeing the company,’€ added Akioye.

Meanwhile, two months ago African American leaders in California told US tobacco companies to stop targeting African Americans in their marketing campaigns, particularly of menthol cigarettes.

“The tobacco industry has been targeting the African American community for decades with deceptive ads and pushing menthol cigarettes that have an anesthetic quality. These cigarettes are harder to quit and make it easier for youth to take up smoking,’€ said Sharon Eubanks, a former prosecutor who lead a law suit against the tobacco industry in 2005.

In 1997, the tobacco industry settled a class-action suit representing individual smokers who accused the industry of knowingly turning them into addicts. In the biggest corporate settlement in America, tobacco companies agreed to pay $368.5 billion, over 25 years to smokers and states to cover medical costs for cigarette related illnesses.  

According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1992 and 2000 smoking rates almost doubled among African-American 8th  graders from 5.3 percent to 9.6 percent and among African-American 12th  graders from 8.7 percent to 14.3 percent.   ‘€“ health-e news.