Based on current trends, about 250 million children alive in the world today will eventually be killed by tobacco. WHO believes that every child has the right to grow up without tobacco. This means without the rampant pressures to use tobacco, which in many countries emanates from all corners. There is a need to change the environment to one where non-smoking is considered normal social behviour and where the choice not to smoke is the easier choice. Tobacco is fast becoming a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease.
Research shows that the risks from smoking are substantially higher than previously thought.
With prolonged smoking, smokers have a death rate about three times higher than non-smokers at all ages starting from young adulthood. And half of these will die in middle age, before age seventy, losing around 22 years of normal life expectancy. Therefore, a lifelong smoker is as likely to die as a direct result of tobacco use as from all other potential causes of death combined. Tobacco is a known or probable cause of about 25 diseases, and the sheer scale of its impact on global disease burden is still not fully appreciated. For example, it is well know that tobacco is the most important cause of lung cancer.