Lisbon: A global movement of opposition to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest tobacco policy is growing by the day, spearheaded by Asian farmers. On Wednesday, September 29, thousands of tobacco farmers in several major Asian cities will gather to say no to a proposal that threatens to send millions of them straight to the unemployment lines for no apparent purpose.

The policy in question concerns guidelines on articles 9 and 10, as well as 17 and 18 of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), which will be presented for adoption at a WHO meeting in Uruguay in November 2010. The guidelines for articles 9 and 10 would ban the use of ingredients other than tobacco in cigarette production which would effectively end production of blended products and thus significantly reduce demand for Burley and Oriental varieties of tobacco. The guidelines for articles 17 and 18 were supposed to provide viable crop alternatives to tobacco growing but fail to offer growers any economically viable alternatives.

“These guidelines would devastate many farmers’ livelihoods, forcing millions into a life of poverty and crippling the economies of many developing countries,” says Antonio Abrunhosa, Head of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA).

“This defies logic and common sense. The WHO itself has said that all cigarettes are equally harmful, so why ban one type of cigarette and not the other? Why put hard working farmers out of work for no good reason?”

Growers have been formally excluded from the meeting in Uruguay and have no voice in the elaboration of these guidelines. “Tobacco farmers will do whatever it takes to make sure their voice is heard even if it means taking to the streets to call on their governments to protect them from this absurd situation. We have no choice. We are talking about 30 million farmers and their families here, not to mention entire communities that depend on them in some of the poorest parts of the world,” concludes Abrunhosa.

Last week, 700 tobacco farmers in Thailand gathered in two provinces, where they and their families presented a petition with 5,674 signatures to the Prime Minister calling on the Thai government to oppose the WHO guidelines.

Further events are set to take place in the following locations on 29 September:

Philippines – Approximately 3,000 tobacco farmers will gather in San Juan – Ilocos Sur, to call on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to oppose the guidelines and protect their livelihoods.

Indonesia – Approximately 2,000 farmers, representing millions of growers of clove and tobacco, will gather in Surabaya and Jakarta to encourage the Indonesian government to continue to support them against international regulation that poses a threat to the kretek industry and the millions it employs.

India – Under the Indian Tobacco Association, tobacco farmers will gather in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, calling on the Indian government to oppose the guidelines for articles 9 and 10.

Malaysia – Members of the peak growers association will deliver a petition signed by thousands of Malaysian growers to the Health Ministry, calling on the government to support them in maintaining their livelihoods and to oppose the guidelines for articles 9 and 10.