Yahoo – AFP,
Nina LARSON, 30 May 2017
 |
| Tobacco kills 7 million a year, wreaks environmental havoc: WHO |
Smoking and
other tobacco use kills more than seven million people each year, the World
Health Organization said Tuesday, also warning of the dire environmental impact
of tobacco production, distribution and waste.
The UN
agency said tougher measures were needed to rein in tobacco use, urging
countries to ban smoking in the workplace and indoor public spaces, outlaw
marketing of tobacco products and hike cigarette prices.
"Tobacco
threatens us all," WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.
"Tobacco
exacerbates poverty, reduces economic productivity, contributes to poor
household food choices, and pollutes indoor air," she said.
In a report
released ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, WHO warned that the annual
death toll of seven million people had jumped from four million at the turn of
the century, making tobacco the world's single biggest cause of preventable
death.
And the
death toll is expected to keep rising, with WHO bracing for more than one
billion deaths this century.
"By
2030, more than 80 percent of the deaths will occur in developing countries,
which have been increasingly targeted by tobacco companies seeking new markets
to circumvent tightening regulation in developed nations."
Tobacco use
also brings an economic cost: WHO estimates that it drains more than $1.4
trillion (1.3 trillion euros) from households and governments each year in
healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, or nearly two percent of the
global gross domestic product.
In addition
to the health and economic costs linked to smoking, the WHO report for the
first time delved into the environmental impact of everything from tobacco
production to the cigarette butts and other waste produced by smokers.
'Overwhelmingly damaging process'
"From
start to finish, the tobacco life cycle is an overwhelmingly polluting and
damaging process," WHO Assistant Director-General Oleg Chestnov said in
the report.
The report
detailed how growing tobacco often requires large quantities of fertilisers and
pesticides, and it warned that tobacco farming had become the main cause of
deforestation in several countries.
This is
largely due to the amount of wood needed for curing tobacco, with WHO
estimating that one tree is needed for every 300 cigarettes produced.
WHO also
highlighted the pollution generated during the production, transport and
distribution of tobacco products.
The report
estimates that the industry emits nearly four million tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent annually -- the same as around three million transatlantic flights.
And waste
from the process contains over 7,000 toxic chemicals that poison the
environment, including human carcinogens, WHO said.
Once in the
hands of the consumer, tobacco smoke emissions spewed thousands of tonnes of
human carcinogens, toxic substances and greenhouse gases into the environment.
Cigarette
butts and other tobacco waste make up the largest number of individual pieces
of litter in the world, the agency said.
Two thirds
of the 15 billion cigarettes sold each day are thrown on to the street or
elsewhere in the environment, it said, adding that butts account for up to 40
percent of all items collected in coastal and urban clean-ups.
WHO urged
governments to take strong measures to rein in tobacco use.
"One
of the least used, but most effective tobacco control measures... is through increasing
tobacco tax and prices," Chestnov said.
Related Articles:
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
“… The Shift in Human Nature
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”
