WHO raises estimate of annual smoking deaths to 4.9 million

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised its estimate of the number of deaths caused by smoking every year from 4.2 million to 4.9 million. The announcement came ahead of the resumption of talks on a global treaty to curb smoking, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in Geneva today. WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said that when the process was started, tobacco killed four million people every year. That figure now stands at 4.9 million people per year.

The talks between more than 120 ofthe WHO's member states began in October 2000. They are aimed at setting up global rules to curb advertising, marketing and sales of tobacco products by the middle of next year. A draft version of the treaty advocates the elimination of tobacco advertising and sponsorship worldwide. It would also outlaw labelling such as low tar or light on cigarette packs, which the WHO regards as misleading. The proposals call for the eventual prohibition of duty-free sales of tobacco, measures to stop smuggling, and aim to phase out subsidies for tobacco farming and manufacturing. (Source: SAPA-AFP, 11 October 2002)