FEBRUARY 20, 2002

Europe announces support for WHO tobacco treaty

Health officials from the European countries have issued what they are calling the Warsaw Declaration for a Tobacco-Free Europe, throwing their support behind the World Health Organization's plans to ban tobacco advertising around the world.

HEALTH officials from the European countries have issued what they are calling the Warsaw Declaration for a Tobacco-Free Europe, throwing their support behind the World Health Organization's plans to ban tobacco advertising around the world. The announcement is a big blow for the tobacco industry as it had been hoped that there would be discord amongst the different countries. The only country which refused to agree was Germany.

The declaration came after a two-day WHO conference in Warsaw, Poland, aimed at helping to ease the passage of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The FIA has said that if the WHO gets its agreement accepted it will ban all tobacco advertising in the sport at the end of 2006.