Where There's Smoke

by WiredBerries Editors — February 12, 2008

February is American Heart Month. The best thing you can do for your heart? Don't smoke! A recent World Health Organization report reveals that smoking and other types of tobacco use killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century, and could kill as many as 1 billion people this century unless dramatic global action is taken to curb tobacco use. The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008 listed six specific tobacco-control policies that should be adopted by governments: raise tobacco taxes and prices; ban tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; protect people from secondhand smoke; warn people about the dangers of tobacco; help people who want to quit smoking; and monitor tobacco use to understand and reverse the epidemic.

The WHO report said nearly two-thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries, with 30 percent in China and about 10 percent in India. Other countries with large numbers of smokers include Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany, and Turkey. The report made known that governments worldwide collect more than $200 billion in tobacco taxes a year but spend less than one-fifth of 1 percent of that revenue on tobacco control. Maybe it's time to put our money where our health should be.