A Thai activist shows a poster opposing cigarette smoking during a ceremony marking World No Tobacco Day at the Royal Fields in Bangkok, May 31. About 10,000 people marched and demonstrated against the tobacco industry. The World Health Organization launched a global campaign against the tobacco industry today, accusing the companies of systematically spreading death almost unchallenged. The organization said it would make a global ban on tobacco advertising a priority in an agreement to be negotiated by its 191 members.
Tobacco is a communicable disease.
Perpetuating Death and Destruction Brundtland accused the tobacco industry of using sports and entertainment figures to market its products to children and create a new generation of smokers. Brundtland said 10 million people a year will die from tobacco-related deaths by 2030, more than 70 percent of them from the developing world, an increasingly important market for tobacco companies. Currently, the figure is 3.5 million to 4 million. David Wilson, regional manager of corporate affairs for British-American Tobacco, which has a 15 percent share of the global cigarette market, denied on Tuesday that children are targeted. According to the WHO, about 1.15 billion of the world's 6 billion-plus people are smokers.