New CDC Global Survey Finds Tobacco Taking Massive Toll on World'...( Statement of M...),Health

Statement of Matthew L. Myers

President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued today by Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:

A new global survey released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds troubling rates of tobacco use, and even higher rates of exposure to secondhand smoke, among children around the world. According to the CDC, several findings of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey indicate that the global death toll from tobacco use, already the world's leading preventable cause of death, may be increasing even faster than thought. These include higher rates of smoking among girls than have been previously found, high levels of exposure to secondhand smoke, and a high level of exposure to tobacco marketing. The survey was published in the January 25 edition of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Tobacco use already claims about five million lives a year worldwide. That number has been projected to double by 2020, with more than 70 percent of these deaths in developing nations. However, stunningly, the data in the new study suggest that the estimate of a doubling of deaths from smoking could well underestimate the actual future death toll. Altogether, tobacco use is projected to kill one billion people worldwide this century unless urgent action is action.

The new survey underscores the need for nations to take immediate and aggressive action to reduce tobacco use by implementing the measures called for by the World Health Organization international tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The treaty calls on ratifying nations, which now number 152, to implement scientifically proven measures to reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, including higher tobacco taxes; laws requiring that all workplaces and publ
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