WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008..

February 8, 2008 - WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008.. The report calls on all countries to dramatically increase efforts to prevent young people from beginning to smoke, help smokers quit and protect nonsmokers from exposure to second hand smoke. Tobacco use killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill 1 billion people in the 21st unless governments act now to dramatically reduce it, the World Health Organization said in a report released on Thursday, February 7, 2008. With Philip Morris International and other multinational tobacco companies aggressively introducing new products and increasingly targeting the developing world, it is urgent that nations act now to implement the proven solutions identified in this report. WHO has identified six cost-effective tobacco control policies that have been proven to reduce tobacco use and that every nation should implement. Called the MPOWER package by the WHO, these solutions require nations to: Monitor tobacco use and assess the impact of tobacco prevention and cessation efforts; Protect everyone from secondhand smoke with laws that require smoke-free workplaces and public places; Offer help to every tobacco user to quit; Warn and effectively educate every person about the dangers of tobacco use with strong, pictorial health warnings and hard-hitting, sustained media campaigns to educate the public; Enact and enforce comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships and on the use of misleading terms such as ‘light’ and ‘low-tar’; and Raise the price of tobacco products by increasing tobacco taxes. Not one nation has implemented all key tobacco control measures despite the fact that governments around the world collect 500 times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on anti-tobacco efforts. According to the report, nearly two-thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries: China, which accounts for nearly 30 percent, India with about 10 percent, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany and Turkey. Some related news briefs: With less restrains PMI looks to the future.., Altria Announces Spin-off of Philip Morris International Inc.., Tomorrow Altria Board Expected to Announce Decision to Split Philip Morris International (PMI) From Philip Morris USA.. and Philip Morris International (PMI) was truly happy they had been back in the Bulgarian cigarette market.. . Epidemiologist Sir Richard Peto warned that developing countries were "sitting on a time bomb" of deaths due to tobacco consumption. (BMJ 1995; 311:1321) Click on image to enlarge..