MOST OF WORLD EXPOSED TO DEADLY TOBACCO SMOKE: WHO

Source: Reuters
Date: 2009-12-09
Author: Kate Kelland
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B83X620091209
ID: 293888

More than 94 percent of the world's people are not protected by laws against smoking, leaving them exposed to the biggest cause of preventable death, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Health

In a Global Tobacco Epidemic report the WHO said smoke-free policies were crucial to reducing the harm caused by second-hand smoke, which it said kills around 600,000 people prematurely each year and causes crippling, disfiguring illness and economic losses reaching tens of billions of dollars.

The report found some progress had been made, with 2.3 percent of the world's population, or around 154 million people, newly covered by smoke-free laws in 2008. But it warned of many more early deaths if governments did not act quickly.

"The fact that more than 94 percent of people remain unprotected by comprehensive smoke-free laws shows that much more work needs to be done," said the WHO's expert on non-communicable diseases, Ala Alwan. . .

The WHO said seven countries - Colombia, Djibouti, Guatemala, Mauritius, Panama, Turkey and Zambia - brought in comprehensive smoke-free laws in 2008, bringing the total to 17.

Category -International -Secondhand Smoke -Smokefree Policies Org -WHO