Gov'ts told to implement stern measures on tobacco

May 31, 2017

WHO wants governments to ban marketing and advertising of tobacco

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments to implement strong tobacco control measures, highlighting how tobacco threatens the development of nations worldwide.

According to a first-ever WHO report, action to stamp out tobacco use can help countries prevent millions of people falling ill and dying from tobacco-related disease, combat poverty and reduce large-scale environmental degradation, a statement issued on Tuesday said.

World No Tobacco Day is being marked today (May 31). 

The stern measures that WHO wants governments to take include banning marketing and advertising of tobacco, promoting plain packaging of tobacco products, raising excise taxes, and making indoor public places and workplaces smoke-free.

Tobacco use kills more than 7 million people every year and costs households and governments over $1.4 trillion through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity. 

The first-ever WHO report, "Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview" also shows the impact of this product on nature. It revealed that tobacco waste contains over 7000 toxic chemicals that poison the environment, including human carcinogens. 

Also tobacco smoke emissions contribute thousands of tons of human carcinogens, toxicants, and greenhouse gases to the environment adding that tobacco waste is the largest type of litter by count globally. 

All countries have committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to strengthen universal peace and eradicate poverty.

Key elements of this agenda include implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and by 2030 reducing by one third premature death from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including heart and lung diseases, cancer, and diabetes, for which tobacco use is a key risk factor. 

The statement said tobacco threatens all people, and national and regional development, in many ways.

"Around 860 million adult smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have shown that in the poorest households, spending on tobacco products often represents more than 10% of total household expenditure - meaning less money for food, education and healthcare." 

Tobacco farming, it said, stops children attending school. 10%-14% of children from tobacco-growing families miss class because of working in tobacco fields, it said adding that 60%-70% of tobacco farm workers are women, putting them in close contact with often hazardous chemicals. 

Tobacco contributes to 16% of all noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) deaths, it said.

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