UN warns a billion people at risk of tobacco death

New York, 04 May – (ANA) - Up to one billion people could die this century from smoking or being exposed

to tobacco if current rates continue, a senior United Nations health official has warned urging governments

of low- and middle-income countries to adopt  measures by wealthier nations to deter people from smoking.

“A cataclysmic future” lies ahead unless serious steps are taken to curb

smoking, said Douglas Bettcher, Director of the World Health Organization’s

(WHO) Tobacco Free Initiative, stressing that all deaths from tobacco use are

entirely preventable.

“There is no need for this. We have tools to help everyone quit,” he told the UN

News Centre from Moscow, where tobacco control was the focus of one of the

round-table sessions at this week’s global ministerial conference on

non-communicable diseases, which wrapped up today.

Dr. Bettcher said an estimated 6 million people currently die each year from

either directly smoking tobacco or being exposed to it, with the victims

disproportionately likely to come from poorer countries. (ANA)

FA/ANA/04 May 2011---------