Jobs At WHO: Smokers Need Not Apply!
According to the UN News Wire, the World Health Organization (WHO):
…will no longer hire smokers in compliance with its campaign to curb tobacco use, which currently causes 5 million mainly preventable deaths and a net loss of $200 billion in treatment and lost productivity every year. The decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) has been motivated by matters of principle, since the Agency cannot ask its Member States to respect the International Anti-Tobacco Treaty and not apply it to its own personnel, spokesperson Fadela Chaib told a news briefing in Geneva today. Current employees who are smokers are encouraged to stop smoking. The WHO application form includes a question as to whether the applicant is a smoker and whether they will stop smoking. The WHO will not, however, investigate its employees to discover whether they are smokers, Ms. Chaib said.The Agency’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) requires Parties to restrict tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, set new labelling and indoor air standards, and strengthen laws against tobacco smuggling.
Well, it is just about time that WHO lives up to what it preaches! Having said that, as a “die-hard†libertarian who cherishes individual freedom, I am skeptical about the notion of regulating human behavior by bureaucratic intervention. In any case, banning smoking in the WHO headquarters will have very little effect, if any, about the serious health problems caused by smoking, especially in the development countries. In short, WHO should be concentrating educating the general public about the damaging health risks associated with smoking rather than wasting time and money on trivial things such as this one.