Tobacco Facts.

Michael Givel has found a faraway ally in his fight against tobacco: the Asian kingdom of Bhutan.

The University of Oklahoma associate professor of political science and tobacco policy expert will get a closer look next week when he becomes the first American Fulbright scholar to teach and study in Bhutan.

The small country tucked high in the Himalayan Mountains caught Givel’s attention after 2004 when it passed laws that prohibited tobacco sales and all smoking in public places, and toughened its tobacco smuggling policy.

“I thought, ‘This would be a great place to check out a new approach,’” he said. “And then I thought, ‘Wow, this could be a great place to look around and study this beautiful country.’”

He and his wife, OU professor and botanist Rebecca Sherry, and their fifth-grade son, Noah, are scheduled to be there from about June 29 through December. The trip will begin with an intensive five-day orientation in New Delhi, India.

Givel will teach a graduate course at the Royal Institute of Management on economic development trends in that part of the world, especially as it relates to Bhutan’s “gross national happiness,” a 72-measure index adopted last fall that replaced the gross national product.

“We have a different approach to free markets than they do, but they are still interested in economic development,” Givel said. “We’ll discuss hands-on examples of how it’s carried out across the world, especially in rural areas.

“I think students will be interested in me, representing the United States,” he added, “and I will be interested in them.”

In that regard, the Fulbright Scholars program was founded in 1946 by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas to raise understanding between Americans and citizens of more than 150 participating countries.

After teaching the class for 1½ months, Givel will spend the rest of his time studying the country’s tobacco public policy and doing research for an update on the book “The Politics of Bhutan.”

The professor has written several review articles on tobacco control and in 2005 co-authored the report “From Industry Dominance to Legislative Progress: The Political and Public Health Struggle of Tobacco Control in Oklahoma.”

Givel has a mixed reaction to the anti-tobacco law Congress passed earlier this month. He said the much-larger warning labels on cigarette packs will be a positive, but he also believes companies will take advantage of loopholes in the Food and Drug Administration’s new regulation of tobacco content.
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