The American Medical Association (AMA) has called for the exclusion of tobacco and alcohol products from future Free Trade Agreements. It has declared that if trade agreements conflict with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the global tobacco control treaty must prevail.  

The statement was released during the Transpacific Partnership Agreement Stakeholder Forum. The proposed regional free trade agreement builds on the current Free Trade Agreement between New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.  The AMA position is aligned with the last (2007) revision of the World Medical Association's Statement on Health Hazards of Tobacco Products, which calls on Medical Associations to urge governments to exclude tobacco products from international trade agreements.  

The exclusion would prevent tobacco and alcohol industry from suing governments using investor-state enforcement powers as Philip Morris did when it sued the governments of Uruguay and Australia over their tobacco control policies. AMA representative, Dr Zeigler, encourages medical associations in other countries to take similar action, particularly in the follow up to the NCD summit, and advocate for commitment to  ensure that, at the minimum, trade agreements would not restrict policy space for tobacco regulation and undermine FCTC implementation.

For more information:

Australia and plain packaging 

Uruguay