WHO issues dire warning on smoking

Smoking killed 100 million people worldwide in the last century,and it will kill one billion people this century if the governments fail to adopt more aggressive measures to combat the deadly global epidemic- a report issued by the World Health Organization strongly warned Thursday.

WHO, the UN's public health arm, said tobacco could kill up to a billion people during the 21st century, almost all of them in developing countries, as the efforts put in by the governments around the world are not enough to ensure reduction in smoking cigarettes.

The Geneva based health organization issued its report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic yesterday that was touted as the most comprehensive country-by-country look at the tobacco use, as well as smoking control and taxation policies, in 179 countries.

"As a global community, we can't allow this to happen," said WHO director Dr Margaret Chan at a news conference introducing the 329-page report. "The tobacco epidemic is entirely man-made."

Financed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s private foundation, ‘Bloomberg Philanthropies’, the $2 million study suggests a six-point program for fighting the tobacco use. The WHO is billed by the tobacco industry as its biggest enemy, and the agency now intends to enhance that reputation by taking tougher measures to curb the tobacco epidemic, Dr Chan said.

The report urges all countries to adopt six measures to reduce smoking rates, with higher taxes on cigarettes topping the list. Increasing taxes to 75% or more of the pack price would be the single most powerful tool, the health agency said.

The six strategies suggested by the WHO's report, nicknamed MPOWER (each letter represents one of six strategies) are: monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, protecting people via enforcing "smoke-free" laws, offering smokers nicotine replacement and help to quit, warning on cigarette packs about the dangers of tobacco, enforcing bans on promotion, marketing and sponsorship, and raising the price of tobacco through taxes.

“While efforts to combat tobacco are gaining momentum, virtually every country needs to do more. These six strategies are within the reach of every country, rich or poor and, when combined as a package, they offer us the best chance of reversing this growing epidemic,” said Dr Chan.

According to the WHO report, only 5 percent of the people around the world are protected by laws to curb smoking; only 5 percent live in countries that completely ban tobacco advertising and event sponsorship; and only 6 percent live in places where cigarette packs carry pictorial warnings of tobacco's hazards.

Scientists predict that 8 million people a year will die from tobacco-related illnesses by 2030, if it goes ungoverned.