Celebrate World No Tobacco Day
April 21, 2011 -- World No Tobacco Day is celebrated globally every year on May 31st. The event, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), is an opportunity to educate the public on the negative health outcomes associated with tobacco use and the deceitful marketing practices of tobacco companies, and is also a means of protecting future generations from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day is “the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.” The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), one of the United Nations’ most widely embraced treaties, “reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health and provides new legal dimensions for cooperation in tobacco control.” The 170 countries that have signed on to the WHO FCTC agree to a set of stipulations. These include a responsibility to:
- Protect public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry;
- Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
- Ban sales to and by minors;
- Adopt price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco;
- Protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke;
- Regulate the contents of tobacco products;
- Regulate tobacco product disclosures; and
- Regulate the packaging and labeling of tobacco products.
Schools and school districts can follow the WHO’s excellent example by ensuring their tobacco-free school policies include a provision banning tobacco advertising and tobacco industry supported curricula on school property.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction are an important tool for helping schools achieve health and education goals through comprehensive tobacco policies. To access these guidelines and other information and resources on tobacco-free school policies, please visit NSBA’s National Consortium on Tobacco Use Prevention through Schools webpage or email schoolhealth@nsba.org.