[Intl-tobacco] World Bank Tobacco Addiction document from the Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP)]

[robert weissman]

Here is an interesting document from the Disease Control Priorities
Project (DCPP) (World Bank), 2006-04-01

*Tobacco Addiction*

http://www.dcp2.org/pubs/DCP/46



Cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco use impose a large and
growing global public health burden, causing nearly 5 million deaths
annually. Based on current smoking patterns, annual tobacco deaths will
rise to 10 million by 2030.

Most of the 1 billion tobacco deaths expected in the 21st century will
occur in low=96income countries. By contrast, the 20th century saw 100
million tobacco deaths, most of them in Western countries and the former
socialist economies. Hundreds of millions of such deaths could be
avoided if effective interventions were widely applied.

Studies from high=96, low=96, and middle=96income countries show that tobac=
co
use can be reduced through interventions such as tobacco tax increases,
information about health risks, restrictions on smoking in public and
workplaces, bans on advertising and promotion, and increased access to
cessation therapies.

For reasons that have not been adequately studied, the use of policy
interventions such as sales taxes to reduce tobacco use is uneven around
the globe. The most obvious constraint to tobacco control comes from the
tobacco industry, which is well organized and well funded. But
earmarking tobacco taxes for uses that the public will support can be a
key political tool for effecting change. The World Health Organization's
2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control may also encourage adopting
countries to implement appropriate measures.

[Thanks to Laurent Huber for this pointer]