Pubdate: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea