If lack of simple prevention is a tragedy, it is an absolute crime that so many of the dangers facing our children are of our own making. One of the most insidious is tobacco. If current world trends continue, deaths due to smoking could triple in the next two decades, ultimately killing about 500 million people, more than half of them now children and teenagers. Children are put at further risk because smoking by their parents increases the likelihood that they themselves will smoke. And those same companies are putting up a well-funded fight against any attempts to address this profitable global health menace.
Chemical weapons are against international law.
Landmines scourge kills 8,000- 10,000 children each year. 1 for each child on earth. Nature at its worst can hardly compete with the scourges we create for ourselves. But there are solutions. New thinking is leading to increased alliances between non-governmental organizations, private business and governments to meet the health needs of the disadvantaged.