Today lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States, surpassing breast cancer. WHO also said women's health can be harder hit by smoking than that of men. Pregnant women who chew tobacco or smoke have a higher risk of miscarriages and give birth to low weight babies prone to infection, it said. Women smokers are also more likely to be infertile or have difficulty getting pregnant, and risk an earlier menopause and brittle bones. WHO said many women and girls are unaware of basic health information concerning tobacco.
More research needs to be done on women and smoking.
But it also said men should take more responsibility to ensure women and children are not affected by their second hand smoke. New evidence shows that parental smoking contributes to higher rates of sudden infant death syndrome as well asthma , bronchitis, colds and pneumonia in children. Earlier this month, Brundtland hit out at Big Tobacco, saying the industry's quest for profits is putting an unacceptable burden on health care worldwide. A round of discussions on the WHO-sponsored tobacco treaty ended earlier this month. WHO aims to have the pact in place by 2003.