El Convenio Marco para el Control del Tabaco entra en vigor

La Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón exhorta a los países que no ratificaron a hacerlo en breve
Montevideo, Uruguay, 25 de febrero de 2005. El 27 de febrero, el Convenio Marco para el Control del Tabaco (CMCT), el tratado internacional del tabaco, auspiciado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, se convertirá en una Ley Internacional. La Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón (FIC), integrante de la Alianza para el Convenio Marco (Framework Convention Alliance), felicita a los 57 países que ya lo han ratificado, y en especial a México, Panamá, Trinidad y Tobago, Uruguay, Canadá , Perú y Honduras, por haber dado un gran paso adelante en la lucha mundial de la salud pública contra la epidemia de tabaquismo.

El Dr. Trevor Hassell, Presidente de la Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón, exhorta a los países que han culminado el proceso de aprobación parlamentaria de la ratificación del CMCT, como Venezuela y Bolivia, a depositar a la brevedad dicho documento en la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU). También insta al resto de los países de las Américas a acelerar el proceso de ratificación. “Este tratado es una herramienta principal para mejorar la salud de nuestras poblaciones,” dijo el Dr. Hassell.

Este convenio pionero proporciona a los países, que son Partes del mismo, las herramientas básicas para que protejan a sus ciudadanos contra la epidemia de tabaquismo. Pero también implica comprometerse a adoptar políticas y desarrollar legislación efectiva para el control del tabaco, que incluyan estrategias que disminuyan el consumo del tabaco y salven vidas. Ejemplos de legislación efectiva incluyen: la prohibición total de toda forma de publicidad, patrocinio y promoción de los productos del tabaco; colocación de grandes advertencias sanitarias en el empaquetado y etiquetado de los paquetes de cigarrillos; la protección de las personas de la exposición al humo de tabaco; el aumento de los impuestos de los productos del tabaco; y medidas para combatir el contrabando de cigarrillos. Las medidas contenidas en este Convenio tienen una sólida base científica y tienen como único objetivo el proteger la salud pública.

La entrada en vigor del CMCT marca un momento histórico para Salud Pública y señala que ha llegado el momento de la reglamentación e implementación de las disposiciones contenidas en este Convenio, las que son vitales para proteger a los ciudadanos de las Américas contra el impacto de las devastadoras consecuencias del tabaco en la salud y la economía.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud estima que en todo el mundo aproximadamente cinco millones de personas mueren cada año debido al uso del tabaco. Si la tendencia actual continúa, se proyecta que para el 2030, serán 10 millones por año y el 70% de


estas muertes ocurrirán en los países en vía de desarrollo. En las Américas, más de 1 millón de personas mueren cada año a causa del tabaco, mientras millones padecen de enfermedades crónicas producidas por el tabaquismo.

El CMCT, al mismo tiempo que contiene las medidas básicas, necesarias, para enfrentar el problema del tabaco, alienta explícitamente a los países a que apliquen medidas que vayan más allá de las estipuladas. Cuanto más enérgica sea la acción por parte de los países, mayor será la reducción de la carga en costo de los cuidados de salud, así como del inmensurable dolor y sufrimiento humano que causa la adicción al tabaco en las sociedades.

PARA MÁS INFORMACIÓN, CONTACTE:

Dr. Eduardo Bianco
Director del Programa de Control del Tabaco
Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón
www.ficnet.org
e-mail: biamau@adinet.com.uy
o
Dr. Joaquín Barnoya
Asesor de Control del Tabaco
Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón
e-mail: jbarnoya@post.harvard.edu

WHO | Global tobacco treaty enters into force with 57 countries already committed

WHO | Global tobacco treaty enters into force with 57 countries already committed
Parties represent 2.3 billion people

Geneva - The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) enters into force on Sunday 27 February 2005. This represents an historical moment in public health, as the Treaty gives countries more tools to control tobacco use and save lives. On the 27th, the provisions of the Treaty will be legally binding for the first 40 countries that became Contracting Parties before 30 November 2004.

Johns Hopkins escolhe o Inca para criar Centro de Excelência no Brasil

(refgerido por Virginia Prado Regional Coordinator (Portuguese) GLOBALink)


RIO - A Escola de Saúde Pública Johns Hopkins Bloomberg firmou acordo com o Instituto Nacional de Câncer para a criação de um Centro de Excelência para controle do tabaco no Brasil. O centro servirá, entre outras ações, para a realização de pesquisas e treinamento na área, e será um pólo irradiador para outros países da América Latina.


A decisão da instituição americana se deve ao fato do Inca ser reconhecido como líder na prevenção e controle do câncer no Brasil, e também um Centro Colaborador da Organização Mundial de Saúde para o controle do tabaco.


O Centro será a expansão do projeto de cooperação do Centro Internacional Fogarty, pertencente ao Instituto para Controle Global do Tabaco da Johns Hopkins.

"A Johns Hopkins também é Centro Colaborador da OMS. O acordo significa a união de dois importantes centros na luta de controle do tabagismo, e só reforça o papel do Brasil como uma das lideranças mundiais no setor", informou o diretor geral do Inca, José Gomes Temporão.

On Smoking: Fotogaleria da Comissão Eurpéia

O Globo On Line - Fotogaleria
De: Isaac Roitman [mailto:iroitman@imagelink.com.br]
Enviada em: terça-feira, 15 de fevereiro de 2005 22:41
Para: aloyzio.achutti@terra.com.br
Assunto: Fw: Para os fumantes

Vejam a campanha de choque contra o fumo, veja as fotos no site abaixo:
http://oglobo.globo.com/foto_galeria/041022_fumo/default.asp?1

As fotos estão mais agressivas, espero que as pessoas sintam dor na consciência e parem antes que seja tarde demais!

Never too old to quit: You can help the elderly stop smoking

AMNews: Feb. 21, 2005. Never too old to quit: You can help the elderly stop smoking ... American Medical News
By Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. Feb. 21, 2005.

You know the patient. He's 68. His pallor is gray. He exhibits a chronic cough and complains about diminishing stamina. It's obvious he needs to stop smoking. But when was the last time you asked him about his habit or counseled him to quit?

It's a question that deserves your attention -- at least as much as the other vital signs you chart.

Mortality associated with passive smoking in Hong Kong

Mortality associated with passive smoking in Hong Kong -- McGhee et al. 330 (7486): 287 -- BMJ
Passive smoking can cause death from lung cancer and coronary heart disease, but there is little evidence for associations with other causes of death in never smokers. A recent study showed increased all cause mortality with exposure to secondhand smoke at home but did not examine associations with specific causes of death and dose-response relations.1 We have published estimates of the mortality attributable to active smoking in Hong Kong2 and now present the related findings on passive smoking at home.

Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in th

Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in the EPIC prospective study -- Vineis et al. 330 (7486): 277 -- BMJ
Results Over seven years of follow up, 97 people had newly diagnosed lung cancer, 20 had upper respiratory cancers (pharynx, larynx), and 14 died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema. In the whole cohort exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was associated with increased risks (hazard ratio 1.30, 95% confidence interval 0.87 to 1.95, for all respiratory diseases; 1.34, 0.85 to 2.13, for lung cancer alone). Higher results were found in the nested case-control study (odds ratio 1.70, 1.02 to 2.82, for respiratory diseases; 1.76, 0.96 to 3.23, for lung cancer alone). Odds ratios were consistently higher in former smokers than in those who had never smoked; the association was limited to exposure related to work. Cotinine concentration was clearly associated with self reported exposure (3.30, 2.07 to 5.23, for detectable/non-detectable cotinine), but it was not associated with the risk of respiratory diseases or lung cancer. Frequent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during childhood was associated with lung cancer in adulthood (hazard ratio 3.63, 1.19 to 11.11, for daily exposure for many hours).

Conclusions This large prospective study, in which the smoking status was supported by cotinine measurements, confirms that environmental tobacco smoke is a risk factor for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, particularly in ex-smokers. .................

Smoke: A Global History of Smoking

Smoke: A Global History of Smoking -- Neve 330 (7486): 313 -- BMJ
Michael Neve, medical historian. Wellcome Trust Centre for History of Medicine at University College London m.neve{at}ucl.ac.uk

This remarkable collection of over 30 essays makes its first impact for two reasons. Firstly, it is beautifully produced and profusely illustrated, while being marketed at a reasonable price. The publishers deserve praise for this increasingly rare event in hardback publishing. Secondly—and one must take this to be an editorial decision—the focus of the collection is the history, not of tobacco or opium, but of smoke and smoking. This simple manoeuvre opens up what can only be called a cultural universe, one with its origins in the earliest known history of humankind and which takes us right up to current debates about very modern objects and their uses: the cigarette and its alleged dangers or the recent fashion for smoking rocks of cocaine, now of course called "crack."
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