TREAT TOBACCO LIKE PHARMACEUTICALS, WHO CHIEF SAYS

BERLIN - The head of the World Health Organization (WHO)
called Tuesday for cigarettes and other tobacco products to be
regulated like pharmaceuticals.

Gro Harlem Brundtland told an international conference in Berlin the
content of cigarettes should be subject to the same controls as those
applied to food products and drugs.

``The time has now come for concerted regulation of tobacco
products,'' she said in the text of her speech issued in Geneva.

Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister, said agencies such as
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should have tobacco products
within their remit.

``How can any of us justify that the contents of food products made by
a company are regulated but that the contents of cigarettes, another
of its products, are not?'' she asked.

``A cigarette is a euphemism for a cleverly crafted product that
delivers just the right amount of nicotine to keep its user addicted
for life before killing the person,'' she said.

Brundtland told the International Conference of Drug Regulatory
Authorities that anti-tobacco measures had focused for too long on
levying high taxes on cigarettes and restrictions on advertising and
packaging.

``The problem is the product itself. Cigarettes are inherently
dangerous products. The tobacco companies, despite knowing this for
many years, have steadfastly chosen not to remedy this,'' she said.

The Geneva-based WHO is promoting a global convention on tobacco
control, an idea it hopes will win support from its 191 member states
at the annual World Health Assembly in mid-May.

Brundtland said the agency would also organize a conference of drug
regulators before the end of the year to discuss her suggestion.