Friday, March 20, 2015

Holding the tobacco industry liable...

Despite overwhelming credible and scientifically robust evidence that tobacco kills and is a common risk factor for major non-communicable diseases, public health program have been unable to make significant headway in cutting tobacco use, particularly in the third world.

With more than 6 million tobacco-related deaths every year, the world is far from eliminating the scourge. Indonesia, for instance, has never cracked down on the production of kretek, a lucrative money spinner for the government. China’s effort at tobacco control are contradictory at best, given that the tobacco industry is a state monopoly and the country’s largest tobacco producer at the same time the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration is the industry regulator with the responsibility to control smoking.

Every tobacco-related death is a tragedy, because it is preventable, said US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at the opening of the 16th World Conference on Tobacco and Health.

“One of the major obstacles in implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is tobacco industry interference and the ability of the industry to intimidate and harass governments” said Matthew Allen, the lead author of Article 5.3 Toolkit: Guidance for Governments on Preventing Tobacco Industry Interference”, of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Full story...

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