WHO wants more graphic warnings to cut smoking rates

More than a billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws requiring large, graphic health warnings on tobacco packs but too many countries are still not doing enough to cut smoking rates, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday. In its third Global Tobacco Epidemic report, the United Nations health body said such warnings are proven to motivate people to quit smoking and also to reduce tobacco's appeal for people who are not yet addicted. More than a billion people worldwide are tobacco smokers and 80 percent of them live in poorer regions. Some experts have accused tobacco firms of capitalising on societal changes in poor countries to target new potential smokers, particularly women, and of marketing cigarettes as a symbol of emancipation or greater economic prosperity. Up to half of all smokers will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease and the WHO describes tobacco as "one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced". Smoking causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killers. The WHO predicts that tobacco will kill nearly 6 million people this year, including more than 600,000 non-smokers who will die as a result of exposed to second-hand smoke. It predicts tobacco could kill 8 million people a year by 2030. The WHO report found that more than 739 million people in 31 countries are covered by comprehensive laws requiring smoke-free indoor spaces, more than double the number in its 2009 report. Burkina Faso, Nauru, Pakistan, Peru, Spain and Thailand are among the latest countries to ban smoking in indoor public spaces and the workplace.