CHEST Joins Tobacco and Human Rights Initiative Led by ASH

July 1, 2025

CHEST recently cosigned a letter to the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in an initiative led by the Action on Smoking & Health (ASH).

“Tobacco exacerbates inequalities, perpetuates poverty, and is a barrier to achieving development (and several of the sustainable development goals), as well as a barrier to achieving the right to health,” the letter read. “It is essential that we consider tobacco policy through these human rights lenses.”

Through this effort, ASH and the 38 signatories request that the council and its subsequent resolutions consider several changes, including:

• Addressing the impact on the right to health of the tobacco epidemic, including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and other products, which causes 8 million preventable deaths annually and costs the global economy up to 2% of the GDP, creating a substantial barrier to economic and human development;
• Including access to tobacco use cessation support as an essential part of the discussion on universal health coverage; and
• Calling upon states, when reporting on the implementation of the right to health under human rights treaties, to provide information on successful measures taken to reduce tobacco use as well as challenges faced in implementing the Firefighter Candidate Testing Center and reducing the harm caused by tobacco that affects that right.

For a full list of the requests outlined in an effort to promote the “right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” as well as the “right to a healthy environment,” read the full letter.