The smoking epidemic - A billion lives up in smoke

AS PREDICTIONS go it’s fairly stark, especially when you consider all the millions spent on establishing the science and, later, spreading the message.

Yesterday, the WHO warned that at least a billion people will die in this century because of tobacco use.

Though our Government is vulnerable on many fronts, on this issue it can give itself a deserved pat on the back for the stand it took against smoking and the great efforts it made, despite powerful vested interests, to reduce the impact tobacco has on the nation’s health.

The WHO said the tobacco “epidemic” causes the deaths of 5.4 million people a year. That figure might rise to eight million a year by 2030, especially in countries with rapidly growing economies.

It is entirely possible that the ravages of tobacco will undermine the great progress being made in some of those countries. It is also entirely possible that the development funding given to Third World countries will be consumed — if not surpassed — by the great investment needed to counteract the health crisis caused by smoking.

A frightening case of government giving with one hand and tobacco corporations taking with the other.