Two major conferences will be held in the coming months, as
efforts to build support for global tobacco control intensify.
One will take place in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in September
and the other in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2007.
The First Latin American Congress of the Society for
Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and the Second Iberoamerican Conference
on Tobacco Control is scheduled for September 5 - 7, 2007 in Rio de Janiero,
Brazil. This event is jointly sponsored by the Society for Research on Nicotine
and Tobacco, the InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF), and by the Brazilian
Association for the Study of Alcohol and Drugs (ABEAD).
The conference will bring together tobacco control
scientists and policy advocates in the region, to learn from the latest science
and from each other, and to encourage involvement in public health science and
policy development on tobacco use throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Themes will include
• Women and tobacco
• Advocacy and the FCTC
• Smoke-free public places
• Global developments in treatment, using
regional tobacco industry documents
• The regulation of tobacco products and medications
• Media advocacy, involving journalists in covering tobac-
co control
• The future of tobacco control research in Latin America
and the Caribbean
The conference in Bangkok, Thailand will be under the
auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and will take place from 30
June - 6 July 2007.
It will be the second world conference of the parties (COP)
to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and is a follow up to
the first Conference of the Parties (COP1) that was held in Geneva, Switzerland,
last year in February.
The Conference in Bangkok will discuss a number of issues,
including a protocol on illicit trade in tobacco products, guidelines for the
implementation of product regulation, education, communication, training and
public awareness, and reports on progress emanating from COP1.
Chief Executive Officer of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of
Barbados, Adrian Randall, will be attending the conference in Bangkok at the
invitation of the Framework Convention Alliance. He said that the main interest
of the conference to Barbadians will be to produce guidelines for the
implementation of Article 8 of the FCTC which deals with “Protection from
exposure to tobacco smoke.” He noted that this is because we are still awaiting
legislation regarding the banning of smoking in indoor workplaces, public
transport, indoor public places, and, as appropriate, other public places in
Barbados.
Mr. Randall said that the Heart & Stroke Foundation of
Barbados was ready to give every assistance to the Ministry of Health in any or
all steps that it is taking to get legislation through Cabinet and through the
Government.
He pointed out that Barbados, as one of the countries that
has ratified the same Convention after Trinidad and Tobago, has to introduce
that ban within a number of years.
"Barbados ratified back in November, 2005” he said “so if we
do it now, we are well within the period. The time is now ripe to introduce a
ban on smoking in public places here in Barbados. What we don't want to do is
remove the right of a citizen to smoke. All we are saying is where.”
