Second Hand Smoke Affects 94% of World Poulation December 19
The World Health Organization released the report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2009 early this month. Tobacco is one of the things that the World Health Organization looks into rather closely, being as it were that its use is considered as the “leading cause of preventable death”, not just in the United States but worldwide. Tobacco use, along with excessive consumption of alcohol, is even considered by advocates of the use of marijuana as more dangerous than the use of the latter.
By virtue of the fact that the adverse effects that tobacco use can cause to people’s health is preventable, controlling tobacco use is foremost on the list of strategies that the World Health Organization is promoting as a means to address mortality rates caused by tobacco use. The report does indicate that “progress is being made”, but there remains to be a lot that needs to be done.
For one, much of the world’s population still find themselves exposed to secondary smoke. Ninety-four percent of people in the world are not protected by laws that curtail tobacco use, a fact that leaves them exposed to the dangers posed by tobacco – regardless of the fact that they themselves do not smoke. Second-hand smoke reportedly leads to 600,000 premature deaths annually.
And then there are countries where, despite policies that aim to deter tobacco use, the incidence of smoking showed an upward trend.
The World Health Organization calls on governments around the world to act quickly; otherwise, it is likely that more people will succumb to a cause that is largely preventable. The WHO encourages the use of MPOWER package of measures, which was introduced last year. The package aims to help countries implement ways to reduce the demand for tobacco, as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which more than 160 parties signed last month.
Tags: cigarette dangers, cigarette health risks, tobacco dangers, tobacco risks
robert Jan 26
But HOW does it affect the world?