• May 21, 2003:    WHO-FCTC is a treaty adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly on this day. It became the first WHO treaty adopted under article 19 of the WHO constitution. 
• February 27, 2005:   The treaty came into force on this day. India ratified the treaty on this day and is obligated to comply with the treaty provisions and its guidelines to reduce tobacco consumption globally.
• November 07, 2016:   India hosted Conference on Tobacco Control
  • India hosted the 7th Session of the crucial global tobacco control conference on this day for the first time.
  •  About 1,500 delegates participated in the six-day conference from around 180 countries along with other observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC Secretariat in Geneva.
  • Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was the special invited speaker at the conference, inaugurated by Union Health Minister JP Nadda.
  • Sri Lankan President, who served as the Minister of Health during the previous government, is a strong advocate of tobacco control and successfully implemented laws to display pictorial warnings up to 80 percent on both sides of cigarette packets.

• The Tobacco Treaty: The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was the world’s response to the global tobacco epidemic. The FCTC was the first global public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. It was completed in 2003, and has now been joined by 180 countries and the European Community.
• What the Treaty Requires: The treaty reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health and calls for parties to the convention to:
  • Protect people from tobacco smoke exposure on public transport, indoor work environments and public places;
  • Adopt or maintain taxation policies aimed at reducing tobacco consumption;
  • Enact and undertake comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
  • Ban misleading and deceptive terms on cigarette packaging such as “light”, “low-tar” and “mild”;
  • Implement rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that covers at least 30% (ideally 50% or more) of the display areas – these may include pictures or pictograms; and
  • Combat illicit trade in tobacco products.
• Cetain Horrifying Facts about Tobacco:
  • According to WHO, 21st century will experience about 1 billion tobacco-related deaths.
  •  650 million of the one billion haven’t even been born yet and the majority of these deaths will be in poor countries.
  • Tobacco kills up to half of its users.
  • Tobacco kills nearly six million people each year, including 600,000 nonsmokers who are dying because of their exposure to second-hand smoke.
  • Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030.

Source: http://ash.org/programs/tobacco-treaty/