Une autre conséquence inattendue de l'hystérie anti-tabac

Via Reuters.com:

African farmers fear tobacco curb "catastrophe"

04 Nov 2010 09:42:30 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Anti-smoking campaign proposing to curb burley tobacco use

* Malawi set to take the biggest hit

* WHO says proposals are in the interests of public health

By Ed Cropley and Kate Kelland

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - An international push to ban burley tobacco, a key ingredient in Marlboro and Lucky Strike cigarettes, could threaten the livelihoods of 3.6 million African tobacco workers, an industry body said on Thursday.

The 170 countries and the European Union that have signed up to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) are to debate the "guidelines" to ban burley at a meeting in Uruguay later this month.

If approved, states will have to decide for themselves whether to outlaw the variety, which goes into the "American blend" cigarette tobacco preferred by smokers in most Western markets.

However, farmers' groups say it will have an immediate and huge impact on demand for a crop that is vital to many poor southern African countries -- most notably Malawi, where a third of the economy and 70 percent of exports come from tobacco.