Health Experts Aim for a 2040 Tobacco-Free World
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Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — One billion deaths from tobacco by the end of the 21st century?
It could happen, says an international group of health and policy experts, unless the world community takes immediate action to curtail smoking numbers all over the globe.
The issue will be addressed by a team of health professionals led by professors from New Zealand at next week’s 2015 World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Dubai.
What the group is aiming for is a tobacco-free world, which in actuality, means “less than five percent of adults use tobacco.”
Rather than trying to restrict advertising to reduce demand, the new initiative will focus more on making it more difficult to obtain cigarettes and other tobacco products by imposing steeper taxes around the world.
Another emphasis will be on instituting smoking cessation programs in middle- and low-income countries.
The experts are setting 2040 as the target date for making the world tobacco-free.
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