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April 5, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
Sharon's
Wars: How the
News Gets Through
April 4, 2002
Ray Hanania
Sharon's Latest Lie About the Church
of the Nativity
Mike Leon
Rightwing
Assault on Madison Progressives Misfires
Tom Turnipseed
Stop the Killing Now!
Nancy
Stohlman
An
American Under Siege in a West Bank Refugee Camp
Christopher Reilly
Kissinger, Chile and Justice
at Long Last?
M. Shahid
Alam
The
Lies of Thomas Friedman
April 3, 2002
Don Henley
Dear Loathsome Trade Hacks
Bernard
Weiner
An
American Jew Talks
About His Shame
David Vest
Sting of Stings
Tzaporah
Ryter
Under
Fire: an American Student in Ramallah
Gabriel Ash
America's Bravest
John Chuckman
Of
War, Islam and Israel
Robert Fisk
The Siege of Bethlehem
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Sins of the Church
April 2, 2002
Uri Avnery
Murdering Arafat?
Jeff Chang
Is
Protest Music Dead?
Lev Grinberg
Israel's State Terrorism
Norman
Madarasz
Bullying
Brazil
Robert Fisk
Farce and Terror
in Ramallah
Steve
Perry
Let's
Roll! ®:
The Marketing of Lisa Beamer
April 1, 2002
Stanton / Madsen
America's War Inc.
Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
Peace
and Nuclear Disarmament: a Call to Action
Bahour / Dahan
Bloodshed in Palestine:
A Way Out
Molly
Secours
Tennessee's
Kangaroo Court
Phyllis Pollack
The Making of Exile
on Main Street
Dave Marsh
DeskScan:
This Week's
Top 10 CDs
Francis Boyle
The Big Lie:
Palestine, Palestinians
and International Law
March 31, 2002
Jordan
Flaherty
Last
Night the Israeli
Military Tried to Kill Me
Kristen Schurr
Live from Bethlehem
Maha Sbitani
The
Israeli Army Took Over My House
Robert Fisk
Lies Leaders Tell When
They Want to Go to War
March 24/30, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
The Year
of the Yellow Notepad:
Plagiarism and History
Rep. Ron Paul
Slavery and the Draft
Fidel
Castro
A
Better World is Possible
Edward Said
What Price Oslo?
José
Saramago
Justice
and Democracy Denied
Azmi Bishara
Talking to Tanks
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Clearcutting
Montana
Alexander Cockburn
50 Years of James Bond
Wilhelm
Reich
Gethsemane
Claud Cockburn
The Horror of It All
Dave Marsh
What's
Playing at My Houe
David Vest
Remembering Tammy Wynette
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Waylon
Jennings:
an Honest Outlaw
March 23, 2002
Mokhiber/Weissman
A
Corporate Lawyer
Speaks Out
Saeed Vaseghi
The US and Iran's Quest
for Democracy
Brian
J. Foley
Does
Pedophilia Scandal Spell an Opportunity for Catholics?
Sheperd Bliss
American Soul and Empire
James
Packard Winkler
Occupation
and Terror:
Politics from a Gun Barrel
M. Shahid Alam
A New International Division
of Labor
T.W. Croft
Enron's
Attack on Our
Economic Security
March 22, 2002
Robert Jensen
Corporate Power is a
Threat to Democracy
Tommy
Ates
The
Future of Black Academia
Rep. Ron Paul
Why are We in Ukraine?
March 21, 2002
McQuinn,
Munson, & Wheeler
Stars
and Stripes:
Killing for the Flag?
John Chuckman
How Change is Wrought
David
Vest
Hail
to the Chaff
March 20, 2002
Kay Lee
Censorship at Angelfire
Robert
Jensen
The
Politics of Pain
and Pleasure
Sheperd Bliss
Notes from Hawai'i:
Trouble in Paradise
Rick Giambetti
Prozac
and Suicide:
an Interview with
Dr. David Healy
Philip Farruggio
Bullies
Lori Allen
Live
from Ramallah:
The Madness of Occupation
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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Published March 1, 2002
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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April 5, 2002
Philip Morris to
Canada:
"Drop Dead"
By Russell Mokhiber and
Robert Weissman
The latest evidence of absurdity of existing international
trade rules comes from Philip Morris, which has told Canada
that proposed health regulations to prohibit the use of the
terms "light" and "mild" on tobacco packaging
are impermissible under numerous trade rules.
Canada proposed the regulation in late
2001 in response to a consensus among public health experts
that the mild and light descriptors are fundamentally misleading.
Mild and light cigarettes are not less hazardous to smokers'
health, in part because it has been determined that smokers
compensate for reduced tar and nicotine by inhaling more deeply,
covering the "vents" on filters and by other means.
In announcing the regulatory proposal,
Canada's health department cited survey data which suggested
that more than a third of smokers of "light" or "mild"
cigarettes choose these products for health reasons.
In its comments -- produced in response
to a U.S. announcement of the regulation, after the Canadian
notice and comment period had concluded -- Philip Morris disclaims
any  health benefits for "light"
or "ultralight" cigarettes, and agrees that "consumers
should not be given the message that descriptors means that
any brand of cigarettes has been shown to be less harmful than
other brands."
But the company insists it should still
be able to use the terms, which it alleges communicate differences
of taste to consumers. Barring use of the terms, Philip Morris
claims, would violate Canada's obligations under the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization
(WTO) agreements.
"The ban would be tantamount to
an expropriation of tobacco trademarks containing descriptive
terms [e.g., "light"] as well as of the substantial
investment in and goodwill associated with those marks and the
brands they represent," Philip Morris argues in it submission.
The company claims that the "descriptive terms such as
'lights' are an integral part of registered trademarks"
for products such as Benson & Hedges Lights and Rothmans
Extra Light.
Under NAFTA's controversial Chapter 11,
countries are barred from taking measures that either take investors'
property without payment of compensation, or even which are
"tantamount" to a taking.
Chapter 11 of NAFTA also confers on investors
such as Philip Morris standing to sue, meaning they can bring
claims directly against governments. Under other trade agreement
provisions, company complaints can only be brought by their
home country governments.
If Philip Morris were to bring and win
a Chapter 11 lawsuit, Canada would be obligated to pay the corporation
the value of the lost property, here the value of the trademark
and associated goodwill.
Philip Morris also claims in its submission
that the Canadian regulation violates at least two sets of WTO
rules.
The bar on use of terms would encumber
the use of Philip Morris trademarks in violation the Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), the
company contends.
Philip Morris further argues the Canadian
regulation would violate the WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade
Agreement. The agreement requires countries to choose the least
trade restrictive means to pursue legitimate regulatory objectives,
such as protection of public health.
In place of the ban on the terms, Canada
could enact, and Philip Morris says it would support, labeling
requirements that state that "light" products have
not been shown to be safer than other cigarettes.
Philip Morris has not indicated that
it intends to bring suit against Canada under Chapter 11, and
it is not likely to be able to get the U.S. government, at least,
to file a WTO challenge against Canada on the matter.
But even if Philip Morris takes no further
action, the prospect of such a challenge will likely chill many
other governments, less resolute in pushing tobacco control
measures, and more vulnerable to legal threats, from enacting
Canadian-style tobacco control regulations.
It is no surprise that Philip Morris
will use every tool at its disposal to defend its deadly interests.
But what does one conclude about the
global trade agreement negotiators, who have created international
treaties -- with strong enforcement mechanisms -- that can be
used to challenge public health regulations such as Canada's?
With tobacco set to take 10 million lives
a year by 2030, it is imperative that steps be taken to remove
the trade rule impediments to sound tobacco control measures.
This means, first, that the Framework
Convention Tobacco Control -- a global tobacco control treaty
now under negotiation -- must include provisions that specifically
establish its supremacy over competing global trade agreements.
Second, tobacco should be carved out
of all existing and future trade agreements. Not only do trade
agreements threaten lifesaving tobacco control measures, but
the purported benefits of trade -- most significantly, lower
prices -- are actually harmful to public health when it comes
to tobacco.
Finally, the fact that the agreements
enable Philip Morris-style arguments should prompt a review
of the trade rules themselves. Certainly the Philip Morris-Canada
dispute makes clear that the NAFTA investor provisions -- the
rules empowering Philip Morris to file suit directly against
Canada, if it so chooses -- should be stripped from NAFTA,
and kept out of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and
other agreements now under negotiation.
Russell Mokhiber
is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Multinational
Monitor, and the co-director of Essential Action. They
are co-authors of Corporate
Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy
(Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999).
(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
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