International Health Policy and Tobacco Control in CA

Institution:	University of California, San Francisco
Investigator(s):	Mariaelena Gonzalez, Ph.D.
Award Cycle:	2011 (Cycle 20)	Grant #: 20FT-0077	Award: $84,927
Subject Area:	Public Health, Public Policy, and Economics
Award Type:	Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards

Abstracts

Initial Award Abstract

This project will contribute to preventing tobacco use and tobacco-related health disparities in California’s diverse populations and to enhancing the effectiveness of tobacco control efforts in California by linking California tobacco control practices into international treaties and issue areas. California Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 129 - Relative to international treaties (ACR 129, passed August 30, 2010) calls on the California State Attorney General to collect information on four treaties that the US has ratified, and to compile a state-level report which will be forwarded to the US State Department and the UN Treaty Monitory Bodies. ACR 129 is important for California tobacco control policy as the tobacco companies’ actions in California violate two of the treaties listed in ACR 129. Understanding the ways in which the first public health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and other international health and human rights treaties intersect is important because ACR 129 provides the opportunity to implement key FCTC provisions in California.

This study has three Aims: (1) To understand how the FCTC intersects with other treaties and UN instruments with regards to tobacco control and how these intersections could be used to strengthen global-level tobacco control policies; (2) To determine how the tobacco industry influenced, or sought to influence, other treaties whose provisions may affect health or tobacco production, manufacturing, and consumption and what effects these tobacco industry efforts had; and (3) To disseminate this information to the California Attorney General and to the various county and city-level Peace and Justice and Human Right Commissions in the state of California so that their reports to the State of California, the US State Department, and the UN treaty monitoring bodies can include this information.

We will first compile a list of treaties and other agreements that may intersect with the FCTC. We will verify whether their articles and guidelines intersect with the FCTC and analyze this intersection. We will then choose a subset of treaties from the list of documents we verified and analyzed. We will use previously secret internal tobacco company document (that have been made public as the result of litigation and contain information on tobacco industry actions and strategies) to understand tobacco companies’ interference with these treaties. We will also interview non-tobacco control health officials and advocates regarding tobacco industry interference with these treaties and their perception of how the treaty areas overlap with tobacco control issues. We will compile this information into a report to disseminate to the Office of the Attorney General, State of California and various county and city-level Peace and Justice Commissions or Human Rights Commissions that we identify in the State of California.

Understanding the intersection of the FCTC with other treaties will link California tobacco control practices into international issue areas, will bolster the rational underlying California tobacco control policies, and will reinforce the conception that tobacco control is a basic human right to which Californians are entitled. Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 129 creates an opportunity for California to regain its position as a leader in US tobacco control by implementing key FCTC provisions in California even though the U.S. has not formally ratified the treaty.

Publications

Planting trees without leaving home: tobacco company direct-to-consumer_x000D_ CSR efforts
Periodical: Tobacco Control			Index Medicus:
Authors: Gonzalez, M., Ling, P., Glantz, S.A.				ART
Yr: 2012	Vol: 21	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: 363-365

Effective tobacco control is key to rapid progress in reducing non-communicable_x000D_ diseases
Periodical: Lancet			Index Medicus:
Authors: Glantz S.A., Gonzalez M.				ART
Yr: 2011	Vol: 10.1016	Nbr: S0140-6736	Abs:	Pg:

Strong smokefree law coverage in_x000D_ the US by race/ethnicity: 2000-2009
Periodical: American Journal of Public Health			Index Medicus:
Authors: Gonzalez M., Sanders-Jackson, A., Song, A.V., Cheng, K., Glantz S.A.				ART
Yr: 2013	Vol:	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg:

Planting trees without leaving home: tobacco company direct-to-consumer_x000D_ CSR efforts
Periodical: Tobacco Control			Index Medicus:
Authors: Gonzalez, M., Ling, P., Glantz, S.A.				ART
Yr: 2012	Vol: 21	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: 363-365

Effective tobacco control is key to rapid progress in reducing non-communicable_x000D_ diseases
Periodical: Lancet			Index Medicus:
Authors: Glantz S.A., Gonzalez M.				ART
Yr: 2011	Vol: 10.1016	Nbr: S0140-6736	Abs:	Pg:

Strong smokefree law coverage in_x000D_ the US by race/ethnicity: 2000-2009
Periodical: American Journal of Public Health			Index Medicus:
Authors: Gonzalez M., Sanders-Jackson, A., Song, A.V., Cheng, K., Glantz S.A.				ART
Yr: 2013	Vol:	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: