Share:
Worldwide smoking ban from 2040
"Smoking endangers her health": Such and similar sayings have been found on cigarette packs for years. Various measures should help to reduce tobacco consumption worldwide. International experts believe a "tobacco-free" world is realistic.
smoking is dangerous for your health
Smoking has long been considered the trigger for many diseases. Among other things, it leads to increased cancers in the area of the pharynx and larynx, the esophagus and the lungs. It also increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer. There are also severe respiratory problems such as asthma, chronic bronchitis or smoker's cough. Smoking also affects the cardiovascular system. Consequence, for example, the coronary heart disease and associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack. Tobacco use is also considered a major risk factor for stroke. So there are plenty of reasons why smoking should be tackled. Doctors, health policy-makers and experts want to do that at the "World Conference on Tobacco or Health" starting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. There should be no less than the "Tobacco Endgame". So for the last battle against the smoked, snorted and chewed tobacco.
(Image: Bernd Kasper / pixelio.de) More use against smoking
Already in the run-up to the conference, scientists around the world have called for more measures against smoking in order to achieve a "tobacco-free" world by 2040 - without smoking bans. In particular, researchers cite the increase in tobacco tax as an effective means of reducing the number of smokers. Not even one in ten in a region lives with a tobacco tax that complies with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. More efforts against smoking are needed, especially in developing and emerging countries, according to the British journal The Lancet, which published a series of articles on tobacco consumption at the forthcoming conference on 17-21 March. Eighty-five percent of the world's population does not have access to programs that help stop smoking.
Governments need to take more action for a "tobacco-free" world by 2040
"A goal of a tobacco-free world by 2040 - in which less than five percent of adults consume tobacco - is socially desirable, technically feasible, and could become politically viable," news agency dpa quotes a research group around Robert Beaglehole of Auckland New Zealand University. However, governments and organizations such as the United Nations and WHO should become more active, especially in South and Southeast Asia, parts of Africa and the Middle East. But they do not want to enforce tobacco prohibitions, the researchers said. The "tobacco-free" world can be reached by other means, they continue writing in the journal.
Tobacco advertising is aimed specifically at women and young people
Another research team led by Kenji Shibuya, a health policy expert at Tokyo University in Tokyo, points out that the increase in the world's population could lead to more than one billion people still consuming tobacco regularly in 2015, even though the proportion of smokers overall is higher is declining. According to experts, an increase in the number of smokers is to be expected above all among African men and men and women in the eastern Mediterranean. Tobacco companies are now focusing on low- and middle-income countries as demand for cigarettes and tobacco in industrialized countries continues to decline, writes Anna Gilmore of the British University of Bath in the journal. "Contrary to what the industry claims, tobacco advertising targets women and young people," she quotes the news agency. The corporations would have too much influence on politics. This must be stopped.
Standard packaging is supposed to make cigarettes less attractive
In many industrialized countries, warnings and shocks can be seen on the cigarette packs. In addition, certain additives are prohibited and pack sizes specified. With it one hopes for a further decrease of the smoker numbers. Australia has gone one step further. There, in 2012, uniform packages of cigarettes were introduced that show no brand logo or the like. Ireland also became the second country in the world to introduce unitary packaging last week. The British Parliament passed a similar decision, but the House of Lords still has to agree. "Standardized packaging avoids the illusions that create shiny, colorful packets of cigarettes and replaces them with shocking images that show the real consequences of smoking," Dr. James Reilly, Irish Minister for Children and Youth. In Germany, no uniform packaging for cigarettes is planned so far. (ag, ad)