Tobacco growers launch petition against FCTC’s ‘destructive proposals’

The International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA), representing more than 30 million tobacco farmers worldwide, on Wednesday reacted with outrage to the publication of new proposals to regulate tobacco farming by the World Health
Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The ITGA has vowed to rally governments to oppose the measures.

“By suggesting governments phase out tobacco growing, these ideological recommendations put the jobs of more than 30 million farmers at risk without providing them with any economically viable alternative crops,” said Antonio Abrunhosa, the chief executive officer of the ITGA.

“The WHO has consistently refused to listen to tobacco growers in drafting the proposals that directly impact this industry. By doing so, they’ve become like a blind man driving a steamroller.”

The ITGA said that the current proposals went far beyond the FCTC’s original mandate.

They were designed to force tobacco growers out of business by creating artificial restrictions on tobacco supply while failing to address the growing demand for the crop. This was being done through recommendations that sought to:

* Restrict production by regulating the seasons during which tobacco could be grown;

* Reduce the area allocated for tobacco farming; and

* Ban financial or technical support for tobacco farmers.

‘More absurd and discriminatory recommendations, such as banning contracts between farmers and their clients or banning bank loans to tobacco growers were already refused by governments from tobacco growing countries, but may be proposed again at the next Conference of the Parties (CoP5), which takes place in Seoul from November 12th – 17th, 2012, an ITGA press note said.

To rally governments worldwide in opposition to the measures, the ITGA is launching a global petition campaign, available online and through growers’ associations.

The petition calls on government leaders to: “Reject these irrational and destructive proposals in favour of a more realistic approach that will help tobacco farmers adapt if and when the demand for tobacco evolves”.

The petition is available online at http://protectfarmers.tobaccoleaf.org/join.aspx