Brazil: balance of the National Tobacco Control Policy in the last decade and dilemmas.

Since 2005, Brazil has been a Party of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty whose measures are the foundation of the National Tobacco-Control Policy (NTCP), of Brazil. The results evidence a significant decrease in the prevalence of smokers and in tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. These results, however, could have been even better if there wasn't the interference of the tobacco supply chain (TSC), controlled by transnational corporations, which has become more intense over the last 10 years.

The decision-making process in Brazil's ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Tobacco consumption is a leading cause of various types of cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. In 2003, the World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), which aims to protect citizens from the health, social, environmental, and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. The Convention was to be ratified by the Member States of the WHO; in Brazil's case, ratification involved the National Congress, which held public hearings in the country's leading tobacco growing communities (municipalities).

[Social responsibility argument for the tobacco industry in Brazil].

The issue of "corporate social responsibility" has been one of great importance and concern in the world and has received different names, such as social responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainable development and corporate ethics. Today, more than ever, it has been necessary for governments, as well as the diverse representatives of "organized civil society," to act in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. This implies an understanding that preservation of the environment, health and education is related to economic productivity; it means an understanding that healthy populations are essential to the reduction of poverty, as well as economic growth and sustainable development.