Report: Tobacco Use Kills 6M People a Year

(CBS)  Tobacco use causes 6 million deaths a year, a third of those deaths from cancer, according to a report released by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation.

The tobacco industry is targeting countries with fewer tobacco controls and less effective public health campaigns, according to the American Cancer Society, which predicts that 72 percent of tobacco-related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2010. The report predicts that 2 million people will die each year from tobacco-related cancer by 2015.

Click here to read the full report

"The Tobacco Atlas presents compelling evidence that the health burden is shifting from richer countries to their lower-resource counterparts," said Peter Baldini, chief executive officer of the World Lung Foundation. "This evidence clearly articulates the breathtaking scope and dimensions of the problem. It calls out to be used actively in strengthening the case for policy change."

The American Cancer Society estimates that the tobacco industry has caused a $500 billion loss in the global economy, citing premature deaths of smokers in their most productive years and tobacco fields taking the place of agricultural fields on nearly 4 million hectares of land. Since 1960, tobacco production has increased by three times in low- and middle-income countries. But in richer countries, production has been cut in half.

The Tobacco Atlas is published by the two organizations to help develop public health strategies to reduce tobacco use worldwide.

[mbakken]

This anti-smoking, anti-fat, anti-alcohol campaign against people who just want to be free, has cost so much money with results the exact opposite of what most people thought it may be. The government knows that by targeting this population they would make gazillions of dollars in taxes, but they lose much more by businesses closing due to bans and lost employment, thus lost tax money. If you are not free to act irresponsibly, you are not free at all. Don't believe the propoganda about second hand smoke, dig a little, it's all false, paid for by big pharma for their own brand of nicotine.

[mbakken]

The last time a cure was found for a disease was 1959. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for polio. Since that time, hundreds of millions of dollars has been thrown around by the ACS and the other tax exempt cartels not to fight disease, but to demonize smokers, drinkers, and the overweight, because cures would put big pharma out of business. It?s time to shut these anything but non-profits down and get back to finding cures!

[mbakken]

The benefits of smoking tobacco have been common knowledge for
centuries, and big pharma knows this. From sharpening mental acuity to
maintaining optimal weight, the relatively small risks of smoking have
always been outweighed by the substantial improvement to mental and
physical health. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Tourette's Syndrome, even
schizophrenia and cocaine addiction are disorders that are alleviated by
tobacco. Tobacco shows promise to prevent colon and prostate cancer
and the endorsement for smoking tobacco by the medical establishment is
good news for smokers and non-smokers alike. The revelation that
tobacco is good for you is trumped by the pharmaceutical industry's plan
to substitute the natural and relatively inexpensive tobacco plant with
their overpriced and ineffective nicotine substitutions with 98% failure
rates for quitting for 1 year or more. Big pharma has spent billions
demonizing the pleasure of smoking using social engineering and profits
from bans that destroys private businesses. Follow the money!

[mbakken]

Close to 90% of the weight of tobacco smoke is composed of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and plain water (1989 Report of the Surgeon General p. 80). This mix is usually called ?fresh air.? google worlds oldest smokers, ALL of the worlds oldest are or were smokers! All of the numbers for deaths are computer generated! For this scam by big pharma we take away property rights? So that someone?s smoke-free preference can trump an owners rights? I read an article about a boy that OD'd on Nicorette gum given at school without parental knowledge. So, very quietly, pharmaceutical nicotine is pushed on 12 year old kids. If anyone doubted that the anti-smoking crusade leads back to Johnson & Johnson, the cat is totally out of the bag!

[JenMoreland]

How many drunk drivers will kill someone each year? How many people will be hospitalized or die from diseases caused by alcohol? People forget this is a drug also. Being a Critical Care Nurse, I saw a lot of money being forked out for patients going through DT's, liver disease, pancreatitis, and even needing organ transplants. Try working in a Neuro Instentsive Care unit and see what it cost to take care of the people injured, or the people that was drinking when accidents happened when people were drinking. Is it because the government accetpts this drug and the effects of it is not reported?????????????

[rf35]

"...72 percent of tobacco-related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2010."

I assume that will include America.

[erasmus111]

by mandylou4u August 26, 2009 2:26 PM EDT
I myself am addicted to the nicotine. Yes there are many programs to help us quit, but why so many programs if they obviously don't work?!


I used to smoke years ago. I don't think any program works. The only thing that works is really WANTING to quit. I tried many times to quit, but it wasn't until I had kids that I really wanted to quit. I tried the gum, but it freaked me out when I read that the nicotine went through the lining of your cheek, straight into your bloodstream. The there was the fact that it was a pain in the butt. You had to chew it only a few times, then you had to store it in your cheek for so long. Then bring it back out and chew it a few more times, then stick it back in your cheek. I did it for a day and then threw it out. I figured going cold turkey had to be better than all that. I was lucky. After that, I didn't really have a problem. No big cravings for it at all.

[garthorama]

Tabacco sucks and not ever going to be my choice of drug, strickly cannabis user here.

[AttentionDeficit]

Same here. Ganja smells sweet, tobacco smells nasty

[tiredofthebs]

Shame about it. MARIJUANA doesn't cause this many deaths. Wake up America.

[anitaymoore]

No kidding, this is news?!!! Even if the number isn't correct...how long have we known that tobacco kills millions each year? Do they really have to continue to do studies on this? If people choose to smoke and it's proven that it causes medical issues...then in my opinion the insurance companies have a right to charge them a higher premium. It's a choice they've made to continue to put themselves at risk...WILLINGLY.