London (Reuters) – deaths related to tobacco have almost tripled in the last decade and the big tobacco companies are obstructing efforts public that could save millions of them, said on Wednesday a report led by the World Lung Foundation ( WLF).
In the report, which commemorates the tenth anniversary of its first tobacco Atlas, the WLF and the American society of cancer said that if current trends continue, one billion people die this century because of the consumption of tobacco, exposure to it – one person every six seconds.
Tobacco has killed 50 million people in the last 10 years, and is responsible for more than 15 per cent of all deaths of men and 7 percent of women, he found the report of the new tobacco Atlas. (www.tobaccoatlas.org)
in China, tobacco is already the leading cause of death – with 1.2 million deaths per year – and it is expected that this figure be increased to 3.5 million a year by 2030, said the report.
Data from China is part of a broader shift: smoking levels descend in developed countries but grow in poor regions, said Michael Eriksen, one of the authors of the report and director of the Institute of public health, State University of Georgia, United States.
“if we do not act, projections of future are even worse.” “And the number of deaths caused by tobacco growing countries in developing, particularly in Asia, Middle East and Africa,” said in an interview.
Almost 80 percent of people who die of tobacco-related diseases come from countries with average or low income. In Turkey, 38 percent of male deaths due to tobacco-related diseases, although smoking also continues to be the leading cause of death among American women.
Of Peter Baldini WLF Chief Executive accused the tobacco industry of taking advantage of the ignorance of the true effect of tobacco and “disinformation to undermine health policies that could save millions of lives”.
The report states that the industry has intensified its fight against policies anti-smoking, launching legal challenges and trying to delay or stop the introduction of cigarette packets unadorned, the prohibition of smoking in public places, the prohibition of advertising and health warnings on tobacco packages.
Six major tobacco companies in the world had profits of 35.100 million dollars (26,500 million euros) in 2010 – equivalent to the combined revenue of Coca-Cola, Microsoft and McDonald ' s, the report said.
Smoking causes lung cancer and other chronic lung diseases and is a factor important risk on diseases of heart, the first cause of death in the world.
More than 170 countries have signed a Pact of the World Health Organization committed to reducing smoking rates, limit the exposure of passive smoking, and put a stop to the advertising and promotion of tobacco.
