The 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has just started in Panama, during which, as it is expected, key decisions regarding the future of the tobacco industry will be made. As tobacco growers themselves predict, the expected provisions will ultimately lead to the death of this sector. The end of tobacco cultivation in Poland?
The COP is the governing body of the WHO FCTC and covers all 183 Parties to the Convention. It regularly reviews its implementation and takes the decisions necessary to support its continued effective dissemination.
The February conference will consider a wide range of actions to guide the future of the WHO FCTC in its efforts to combat the “tobacco pandemic” that kills 8.7 million people worldwide each year, according to the release.
There are already some successes. – Over the first 20 years of this century, tobacco use among adults has fallen from almost 33% to 22%, even as the planet’s population continues to grow, boasts the WHO FCTC.
But, as Dr. Adriana Blanco Marquizo, director of the WHO FCTC Secretariat, notes, tobacco companies continue to pursue various “disingenuous” ways to, in short, maintain their economic status quo.
Death of the tobacco industry?
At the end of last year, MP Norbert Kaczmarczyk submitted an interpellation to the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the future of tobacco cultivation in Poland in the context of the above-mentioned. conference.
– Key decisions regarding the tobacco industry will be made during the WHO COP10 conference in Panama in 2024. Tobacco growers and trade unionists are warning that the decisions of the WHO and the European Commission will ultimately lead to the death of this industry. The following ideas are planned to be implemented: a gradual ban on tobacco cultivation, a ban on the production and sale of e-cigarettes and nicotine sachets, increasing taxes on tobacco products and equalizing product and tax regulations for innovative products with those for traditional cigarettes. Worryingly, the European Commission supports the changes proposed by WHO. Meanwhile, tobacco is grown today in several of the 27 EU countries, and Poland is one of the leaders in this market – wrote MP Kaczmarczyk and asked: – What are the plans of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development related to participation in the above-mentioned? conference and what steps the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will take in the context of rejecting the above-mentioned ideas?
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reassures: there will be no gradual ban on tobacco cultivation
As Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak informed in response, the EU’s position at COP10 on the above-mentioned matter was agreed in autumn 2023.
– Due to the fact that cooperation with WHO falls within the competence of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health represented Poland at meetings with the European Commission regarding agreeing the position of the EU as a whole for this meeting. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development cooperated with the Ministry of Health in developing Poland’s position. In its opinions, it took into account demands and solutions beneficial from the point of view of Polish tobacco growers – points out Kołodziejczak.
And adds:
– I inform that Both WHO and the European Commission are not taking action to gradually ban tobacco cultivation. Under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control however, actions are taken to limit the consumption and health consequences of consuming tobacco products.
As we read further, in the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there is a possibility of improving the situation in the domestic tobacco growing sector in any scenario of developments on the global and EU tobacco market.
– There are factories in Poland belonging to four tobacco concerns, which should use domestically produced raw tobacco to a greater extent. However, despite the large production of tobacco products in the country, the vast majority of raw tobacco used for their production comes from import, and approximately 70% of domestic raw tobacco is exported. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is conducting a dialogue with market participants in order to strengthen cooperation between tobacco growers and tobacco product manufacturers in Poland, argues Deputy Minister Kołodziejczak.
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