Could international human rights obligations motivate countries to implement tobacco cessation support?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) seeks to realize the right to health through national tobacco control policies. However, few states have met their obligations under Article 14 of the FCTC to develop evidence-based policies to support tobacco cessation. This article examines how human rights obligations could provide a legal and moral basis for states to implement greater support for individuals to overcome their addiction to tobacco. ANALYSIS: The United Nations (UN) has a well-established legal framework for promoting human rights, looking to the right to health to realize health autonomy. Where addiction undermines autonomy, it is widely acknowledged that addiction presents a significant barrier to cessation for individuals who use tobacco, undermining the right to health. The UN human rights system could, therefore, provide a complementary basis for monitoring state obligations under Article 14 of the FCTC, identifying challenges to FCTC implementation and motivating states to support tobacco cessation. CONCLUSIONS: The United Nations' human rights system offers a mechanism that could be used to monitor Framework Convention on Tobacco Control implementation in national policy, facilitating accountability for the progressive realization of cessation support.

The impact of COVID-19 on the WHO FCTC, cessation, and tobacco policy.

'In the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people in tobacco control worldwide would have been at the Hague, Netherlands, from 9-14 November for the 9th Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), advocating for even stronger policies against the tobacco epidemic. The COP has been postponed to 2021, but the pandemic did not stop the global civil society from "virtually" gathering to talk about the WHO FCTC, where it is and where it is going.'

Human rights and the WHO FCTC Conference of the Parties.

'In the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people in tobacco control worldwide would have been at the Hague, Netherlands, from 9-14 November for the 9th Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), advocating for even stronger policies against the tobacco epidemic. The COP has been postponed to 2021, but the pandemic did not stop the global civil society from 'virtually' gathering to talk about the FCTC, where it is and where it is going.'

Cultivar architecture modulates spore dispersal by rain splash: A new perspective to reduce disease progression in cultivar mixtures.

Cultivar mixtures can be used to improve the sustainability of disease management within farming systems by growing cultivars that differ in their disease resistance level in the same field. The impact of canopy aerial architecture on rain-splash dispersal could amplify disease reduction within mixtures. We designed a controlled conditions experiment to study single splash-dispersal events and their consequences for disease. We quantified this impact through the spore interception capacities of the component cultivars of a mixture. Two wheat cultivars, differing in their aerial architecture (mainly leaf area density) and resistance to Septoria tritici blotch, were used to constitute pure stands and mixtures with 75% of resistant plants that accounted for 80% of the canopy leaf area. Canopies composed of 3 rows of plants were exposed to standardized spore fluxes produced by splashing calibrated rain drops on a linear source of inoculum. Disease propagation was measured through spore fluxes and several disease indicators. Leaf susceptibility was higher for upper than for lower leaves. Dense canopies intercepted more spores and mainly limited horizontal spore transfer to the first two rows. The presence of the resistant and dense cultivar made the mixed canopy denser than the susceptible pure stand. No disease symptoms were observed on susceptible plants of the second and third rows in the cultivar mixture, suggesting that the number of spores intercepted by these plants was too low to cause disease symptoms. Both lesion area and disease conditional severity were significantly reduced on susceptible plants within mixtures on the first row beside the inoculum source. Those reductions on one single-splash dispersal event, should be amplified after several cycle over the full epidemic season. Control of splash-dispersed diseases within mixtures could therefore be improved by a careful choice of cultivars taking into consideration both resistance and architecture.

Perspectives on Tobacco Product Waste: A Survey of Framework Convention Alliance Members' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs.

Cigarette butts (tobacco product waste (TPW)) are the single most collected item in environmental trash cleanups worldwide. This brief descriptive study used an online survey tool (Survey Monkey) to assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among individuals representing the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) about this issue. The FCA has about 350 members, including mainly non-governmental tobacco control advocacy groups that support implementation of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Although the response rate (28%) was low, respondents represented countries from all six WHO regions. The majority (62%) have heard the term TPW, and nearly all (99%) considered TPW as an environmental harm. Most (77%) indicated that the tobacco industry should be responsible for TPW mitigation, and 72% felt that smokers should also be held responsible. This baseline information may inform future international discussions by the FCTC Conference of the Parties (COP) regarding environmental policies that may be addressed within FCTC obligations. Additional research is planned regarding the entire lifecycle of tobacco's impact on the environment.

[The framework convention on tobacco control: is there hope for Africa?]. / La convention-cadre pour la lutte anti-tabac: espoir pour l'Afrique?

African countries have a lot to gain from the first international public health treaty. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was adopted in May 2003 by 168 member countries at the World Health Assembly. The African delegation demonstrated and put forth a strong, united front throughout the series of sessions which comprised the negotiation process. There are a number of considerable obstacles and challenges particular to this region of the world which makes it difficult to put tobacco control on the African agenda. Only a solid civil society mobilisation movement could serve as a worthy adversary to take on such a challenge. NGOs, such as the Framework Convention Alliance, provide assistance and should continue to support the activities of some of the key players who are still working in isolation on the continent. These organisations can also play a vital role by continuing to favour the provision of access to the available data and information which only exists in English so that the language barrier no longer remains a hindrance to the protection of the health of citizens in Francophone African countries.

Varations in maize pollen emission and deposition in relation to microclimate.

The coexistence of genetically modified (GM) crops with conventional crops has become a subject of debate and inquiry. Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most cultivated crop plants in the world and there is a need to assess the risks of cross-pollination. Concentration and deposition rate downwind from different-sized maize crops were measured during three flowering seasons, together with micrometeorological conditions in the surrounding environment. Pollen release started once the air vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increases above 0.2 to 0.5 kPa. Moreover, the dynamics of release was correlated with the dynamics of VPD surrounding the tassels. Horizontal deposition appeared to follow a power law over short distance downwind from the source, and the dispersal distance increased with the source canopy height and the roughness length of the downwind canopy. This work also provides a data set containing both pollen measurements and contrasting weather conditions to validate dispersal models and further investigate maize pollen dispersal processes.