Global

Global

In the U.S. adult tobacco use rates have declined from a peak 4 decades ago of around 50%. In the developing world, tobacco's new market, smoking rates are already alarming. Male smoking prevalence on the Pacific Rim is over 60%. Epidemiological patterns show that a society's mortality due to tobacco peaks about 20 to 40 years after smoking rates reach a zenith. The tobacco industry is expected to profit from an estimated 10 million deaths annually within the next decade. The vast majority of these lives will come from developing countries with less access to health care or education.

Similarly will the vast majority of tobacco morbidity in this country come from the poor and uneducated. The tobacco industry knows that in the U.S. litigation and political manipulation are just stalling tactics for the growth market and coming pandemic in the rest of the world.

In 2006, the tobacco cartel was convicted of fraud and racketeering in a U.S. federal court. Of many injunctions was the prohibition of the marketing of "light" or "low tar" tobacco products. The industry's very first appeal was to continue this marketing deception overseas. The Master Settlement ended Joe Camel's very successful reign in America but not in the developing world which bears the brunt of both tobacco production and use.

In 2003 the World Health Organization adopted unanimously the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. To date, there are 168 signatory nations recognizing the harm caused by tobacco and evidenced based effective prevention. Effective tobacco prevention globally is indistinguishable from what is effective locally. Tobacco free environments, significantly increased prices, marketing reform reducing youth access, and support for cessation are all evidence based to de-normalize tobacco prevalence. Also, not unlike in our own community, the tobacco cartel targets those least able to afford or recognize the cost and risk of nicotine addiction.

"Tobacco and poverty are inextricably linked. Many studies have shown that in the poorest households in some low-income countries as much as 10% of total household expenditure is on tobacco. This means that these families have less money to spend on basic items such as food, education and health care. In addition to its direct health effects, tobacco leads to malnutrition, increased health care costs and premature death. It also contributes to a higher illiteracy rate, since money that could have been used for education is spent on tobacco instead. Tobacco's role in exacerbating poverty has been largely ignored by researchers in both fields." World Health Organization

We are all in this challenge together. Half of the world's tobacco users today are expected to die as a result. If another child never smoked another cigarette tobacco would still cost 650 million people their lives.