FCTC ignoring founding principles

For those not familiar with the “Conference of the Parties” (COP), it is a bi-annual event where around a thousand grey, soulless, anti-smoking extremists from all over the world swan off to a swanky conference centre (last time around in Delhi, India) to discuss a variety or authoritarian measures to further prohibit smokers from enjoying their habit. They also spend a lot of time debating whether or not the public and press should be allowed to witness what goes on, along with debating whether or not to ban e-cigs and other harm reduction products.

Oh, and it’s all funded by the taxpayer of the attending countries.

Amusingly, the very front page of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is very telling, specifically the second paragraph:

Nothing like highlighting a slippery slope is there? Have these loons forgotten that there is already a COP for climate change – subtly rebranded, I notice, to “Global Conference on Health and Climate” – now approaching its 23rd session?

I digress.

This document has been circulating around various advocates and it is a hideous piece of wibble. As is the norm for these things, COP8 will spend an inordinate amount of time discussing this latest “report” which, as we’ll see, is stuffed full of the usual pharma-backed nonsense. The last “report” was, rightly, ripped to shreds by the more honest colleagues in their profession.

After going over some of the more uh, unique decisions taken at previous shindigs – such as this gem:

Perhaps delegates should refresh their memories on the definition of “tobacco product” as detailed in Article 1 (f) of the FCTC itself:

Then there is this:

Which, regular readers will remember, is the FCTC deliberately misinterpreting science to suit their own agenda – much like the EU did – and that is to effectively ban anything they can’t control.

Let us not forget this:

I remember COP6. It was an absolute shitshow.

So far, I’ve quoted a few of the paragraphs from the six-page document and it isn’t until I get to page 3 where I spot this:

This is the only mention, vague as it is, that upholds the founding principle of the FCTC itself. Notably, Article 1 (d):

The report has helpfully detailed where e-cigs are completely banned, so it makes choosing your next holiday a bit easier:

It seems that the FCTC isn’t too happy that some signatories aren’t bothering to regulate e-cigs too:

Do you think it might not be about health at all? Hmm.