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U.S. GOVERNMENT 3: U.S. Urged to Sign Tobacco Treaty

On Tuesday, March 2, 2004, the American Cancer Society warned the U.S. government that time is becoming short if it hopes to sign an international treaty against tobacco.

The treaty is called the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It requires nations to severely restrict tobacco advertising, as well as increase protections against secondhand smoke. The treaty also requires cigarette makers to put bigger health warnings on their displays. Moreover, any cigarette smuggling across borders would have stricter penalties.

The treaty was adopted in May 2003. For it to take effect, forty nations must sign and ratify it. So far, 95 nations have signed, but only 9 have ratified. The United States government supported the treaty when it was written last May, but so far the U.S. has not signed. The government has until June 29, 2004, to sign the treaty.

The American Cancer Society hopes that the treaty will cut back on the number of cigarette smokers in both the United States and across the world. If the number of cigarettes smoked in the world was cut in half, 200 million lives would be saved over the next 50 years. That's a lot of people! Smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.

--Written by Carla Shives

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