The global tobacco treaty will save millions of lives and change the way the tobacco industry operates around the world. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death globally, killing over 5 million people each year. Today, this groundbreaking treaty protects 80 percent of the people on our planet.  It is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization and is one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations. Currently, 148 countries have ratified it.

The U.S. made a gesture by signing the treaty three years ago, but we have not yet ratified this groundbreaking treaty. Ratification is a critical step in translating the treaty into law in our country. It is time that the Bush Administration releases the global tobacco treaty to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for review. The treaty needs the approval of two-thirds of the Senate for ratification.

U.S. ratification would protect current and future generations of Americans from tobacco addiction, disease and death. It would also facilitate global cooperation to rein in Big Tobacco’s Marlboro Men, since the U.S. is home to the world’s largest and most profitable tobacco corporation - Philip Morris/Altria. The U.S. should step up, join the rest of the world and ratify the world’s first public health treaty.

For more information about U.S. tobacco control policy and FDA regulation of tobacco, including how S.625 / H.R. 1108 should be strengthened, download Corporate Accountability International’s Briefing Paper on U.S. Tobacco Control Policy.

Corporate Accountability International’s members are calling on the United States government to ratify the global tobacco treaty and are building pressure by submitting letters to the editor, writing letters and making phone calls. For more tools to get involved, click here to download the Global Tobacco Treaty Toolkit.

Click here to send an email to your senators

See the current status of the Global Tobacco Treaty