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Subscribe to RSSLONDON -–Women in developing countries are starting to smoke at younger ages, according to a study that found "alarming patterns" of tobacco use around the world.
Despite years of anti-smoking measures being encouraged across the world, most developing countries have low quit rates, according to the study in The Lancet medical journal on Friday -- and tobacco is likely to kill half its users.
Wide differences exist in the rates of smoking between genders and nations, as well as major disparities in access to effective anti-smoking policies and treatments.
"Although 1.1 billion people have been covered by the adoption of the most effective tobacco-control policies since 2008, 83 percent of the world's population are not covered by two or more of these policies," Gary Giovino of the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions in New York, who led the research, told Reuters.
Such measures include legislation in some developed nations banning smoking in public places, imposing advertising bans and requiring more graphic health warnings on cigarette packets.
The findings come as the world's leading tobacco firms, British American Tobacco, Britain's Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco lost a crucial legal appeal in Australia this week against the introduction of plain tobacco packaging.
Australia's planned "no logo" laws are in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and are being watched closely by Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures to help fight smoking.
Full Health coverage on NBCNews.com
Tobacco kills up to half of its users, according to the WHO. Smoking causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killers. Other forms of tobacco use include snuff or chewing tobacco.
Australian court OKs logo ban on cigarette packs
Giovino said his findings "reinforce the need for effective tobacco control."
Higher rate of smoking in men
Using data from Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS) carried out between 2008 and 2010, Giovino's team compared patterns of tobacco use and cessation in people aged 15 or older from 14 low- and middle-income countries. They included data from Britain and the United States for comparison.
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They found disproportionately high rates of smoking among men -- at an average 41 percent versus 5 percent in women -- and wide variation in smoking prevalence between GATS countries, ranging from about 22 percent of men in Brazil to more than 60 percent in Russia.
Rates of female smoking ranged from 0.5 percent in Egypt to almost 25 percent in Poland. Women in Britain and the United States also had high smoking rates, at 21 percent and 16 percent respectively.
Study finds slowing drop in youth tobacco use
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the rate of decline in youth smoking in the United States has virtually ceased in recent years.
In the wake of a new study showing high rates of smoking among teens, the Centers for Disease Control issued a new 12-week ad campaign to get people to stop smoking. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
The new study in The Lancet found that around 64 percent of tobacco users smoke manufactured cigarettes, although loose-leaf chewing tobacco and snuff were particularly common in India and Bangladesh.
Giovino also pointed to the link between tobacco use and escalating health-care costs.
"Tobacco contributes an enormous burden to the health care system in developed countries, and that scenario will play out in the not-too-distant future in low and middle income countries. It already has in many countries, in India for example," Giovino told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America broadcaster.
Complete World news coverage on NBCNews.com
Dr. Cheryl Healton with the American Legacy Foundation offers tips for smokers trying to quit smoking. NBC's Erika Edwards has the report.
Hundreds of millions of smokers in China
With an estimated 301 million tobacco users, China has more than any other country, closely followed by India with almost 275 million. Other countries included in the study were Bangladesh, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam.
The researchers said the rise in tobacco use among young women was of particular concern.
Researchers also said that powerful pro-tobacco forces were at work in countries such as China.
"The China National Tobacco Company has supported elementary schools in China, dozens and dozens of them. And they use their support to promote propaganda about tobacco use, and they are basically telling students that genius comes from hard work and tobacco helps them to be successful. That to me is mind boggling, that a government would tell its children to use tobacco to be successful when tobacco will addict them and shorten their lives," Giovino told Voice of America.
EU considering cigarette logo ban to deter smoking
A new study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health says nicotine gum and patches may not help people quit smoking after all. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
'Extraordinary' under-funding
In a commentary about the study also published in The Lancet, Jeffrey Koplan from Emory University in Atlanta and Judith Mackay from the World Lung Foundation in Hong Kong called for more investment in tobacco control measures, saying current under-funding was "extraordinary."
In low income countries, they said, for every $9,100 received in tobacco taxes, only $1 was spent on tobacco control.
Cigarettes are to be banished from sight in England's shops. After 2015, retailers won't be allowed to display tobacco. The British government is also considering whether to require tobacco products be sold in plain packaging. ITV's Chris Choi reports.
The WHO says tobacco already kills around 6 million people a year worldwide, including more than 600,000 non-smokers who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
By 2030, if current trends continue, the WHO predicts tobacco could be killing 8 million people a year.
Read the full report on The Lancet (registration required to read the full study)
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
That estimate is extremely low.
China promotes smoking because it solves their demographic problem.
They want to work them hard, retire them early, and give them just enough retirement to afford all the alcohol and cigarettes they want so they die early and make room for the next bunch.
The 'classier' more expensive brands are the ones with very high nicotine content. Mix a chain smoker with that and the 130 proof baijiu white lightening they seem to love to drink to oblivion, and if the substances don't kill them, accidents will.
Smoking is still being sold as cool in the media. That's why many young kids still want to try it. And telling them to stay away, only makes kids want to try it more. It needs to be sold as something losers do, so kids think only losers smoke. Then they will shy away. Doing that will piss off a lot of people, especially older smokers. And of course the tobacco industry.
And I have no doubt that tobacco peddlers are pushing it like crazy on young kids, any place that doesnt stop them. Especially under-developed countries. They are merchants of death, who dont care that they are selling poison. Millions of people die each year, from smoking related illnesses, around the world.
I smoked for almost 20 years. I quit over a decade ago, when a family member got lung Cancer and died. Best thing I ever did for myself. And it was a lot easier then I expected. The discomfort didnt last very long at all. About a week, and then it got quiet a bit better and much easier to resist. That first week sucked though. I just kept thinking how much worse getting Cancer would suck.
The world should put the tobacco peddlers out of business. Make everyone quit for their own good. For the sake of the kids who would end up smoking too. Minimum, we need to sell smoking as something losers do, so kids shy away from it.. We glamorize this crap way too much.
I enjoy a fine cigar almost daily,and I don't smoke around people.
The ads don't bother me one tiny bit,as I know most people do things to an excess,so everything in moderation,including telling me what I should or should not be doing.
People texting and driving bothers me a lot more than smokers. I still don't even understand why anyone would text when they have a telephone in their hand,and could talk to someone instead of texting.
Makes no sense to me..
Sure, smoking can cause you to die sooner. But non smokers die eventually too and costs will be incurred by the health care system then also. Its no cheaper to die for non smokers than for smokers. A quick death is a cheap death. Smoking contributes to hearth disease and massive heart attacks can be a quick death. On the other hand, if we all lead perfectly healthy lives, we can slowly break down mentally and end up in nursing homes because we can't take care of ourselves anymore. Its not fair to ask our kids to change out diapers and its extremely expensive for the health care industry to do it for us. People can linger for years and years in nursing homes in less than stellar health, costing lots of money. Smoking can kill a lot quicker, so maybe if everyone quit we would just end up with a bigger health care crisis do to people living longer and requiring more drugs and care to keep us drooling at the television mindlessly. I should also mention all the money that's supposedly being used from taxes on cigarettes to pay for care of uninsured people that will be gone if smokers all quit. I'm tired of cigarettes being blamed for costing the society money, all people die and its rarely cheap or pretty.
If you want to be killed quickly by a smoker, I suggest you and the smoker smoke inside your own home with the windows closed and no ventilation so you are the ONLY one effected by the harmful stench.
If you are willing to do that, then God bless you, otherwise:
A smoker can smoke all the cigarette's and tobacco that they want, but while they are enjoying their right to risk their own health to cancer, they must realize that they do not have the right to harm others with their second and third hand smoke. And therefore they may be ridiculed and chastised for placing others at risk.
Land used to grow tobacco could be better used to grow food. What a wast, producing a product that is extremely addictive, and toxic.
The Federal Government .......tampering again has decided to put forth a series of terrible revolting and sickening anti-smoking commercials.
Most people will turn them OFF (instantly)------they are so over the top.
So, it basically has very little effect.
Problem is, our government thinks it good at EVERYTHING.
I'm a former smoker who quit years ago, and these government commercials are DISCUSTING AND TASTLESS, to say the least.
AND THEY DON'T WORK !
All i know is that I can potentially die much earlier (i'm a non-smoker) because someone else smokes. That scares the heck out of me.
involves negative results such as: Blackened lungs, rotted teeth, blindness,
Hmmm, smoking causes blindness? First I've heard of that...
Hey I got an Idea, instead of handling the "GLOBAL" bull. Why don't we clear up our own back yards first.....................
Exactly.........
This is why I vape with e-cigs. Still smoke reg cigs occastionally but down to about 2 packs per month.
Butt what about egg yolks? They're now supposed to be just as bad as smoking. Are we going to ban egg yolks? Or tax them excessively?
I wonder how they got the statistics. Hmmm...lets Poll 2000 people. Oh some of them are dying. I knew there was a correlation. Probably took a poll in an area where there are other carcenagines in the area.
With all the crap they do to cigarettes, adding chemicals for this or that, I don't know why they wouldn't work on how to make them just not kill you.
I can die earlier because of someone else's smoking habit. that scares me and should never be okay. for people comparing the harms of smoking to gas etc, we should try our best to move away from oil, but obviously that isnt so simple--just as it isnt so simple to get rid of tobacco, but both help to create a terrible picture of the future, one a lot of people are blind to cause they can only think in the immediate terms
Then ask them to go outside. They will if they respect ya. Even when I smoked only regular cigs and not e-cigs I wouldn't even smoke in my own house when other people where there that didn't want to be around it.
And the terrible picture for the future. It doesn't really work. Soon as I see one of those commercials I change the channel immediately because they are gross.
So this article has some interesting, if not skewed, information in it... I think the most interesting line in the whole article is "and tobacco is likely to kill half its users." So basically, this article is stating that if you smoke, there is a 50/50 chance that it may kill you. Huh… I wonder what the odds of your death are if you eat red meat, two to three times a day, every day. Or I wonder what your odds are if you are riding a bike down a busy metropolitan street – with and without a helmet. Last week I saw an article that stated if you ate three or more whole eggs during the week that it does more damage to your heart than smoking.
This is the United States and we have never been so divided on smoke and mirror issues than we are this election. The economy is in the toilet, the education and infrastructure systems are on the edge of a collapse, there are children in this country going to be hungry every night, and this is the news story. Next week, by the way, smoking will have beneficial, healthy, side effects and we will learn that Tofu is actually carcinogenic. People, here’s the cold hard truth… something will kill you. It may be your diet, it may be your smoking, it may be a traffic accident, or it could just be your time to go. Learn to enjoy your life, and allow others the same courtesy. Peace to you and yours.
Leave me alone
I think this is the greatest news I've heard in years. People are partaking of the habit of their choice, and telling the anti-smoking propagandists to go pedal their bull @!$%# somewhere else. Light one up for me, my beloved fellow smokers.
Yours truly, a 49-year smoker
How did we ever stumble through life without all the EXPERTS telling us what we were doing wrong and the correct way to live our lives? God save us from the EXPERTS and meddling and intrusive governments! There are enough people dying from undiagnosed and untreated diseases in the world that I would think these EXPERTS could find something useful to do that they wouldn't constantly be in our faces telling us how to live or what we're doing wrong!!!!!!!
Everyone has free will. But you reap what you sow. And, unfortunately, these
companies don't care. And yes, tail pipe exhaust is no better to inhale. Critical times
hard to deal with, will be here.
ex smoker who quit yrs ago but still enjoys about 5+ a yr.
Studies show that about 20% of smokers don't get addicted. Got luck but, still quit whet it became a chore walking up steps at 28. I feel I'm one of those who has the right to talk about something I know about but, also feels like it's not my duty to tell others how to live their lives, legally.
Thank you, reality. Unfortunately, you're the minority. Most of these non-smokers can't leave us smokers alone. They want to take away our enjoyment because they're not getting anything out of it. Misery loves company.
Auto exhaust, Manufacturing plants of million different things. Power Plants to name just a few are a million times more TOXIC then smoking.
With overpopulation being the number one problem it would seem that smoking should be encouraged
Maybe Mrs. Obama should try to be involved with the stop smoking campaign instead of the eat healthy. BUT that would require her husband to stop smoking. I wonder if his daughters will become smokers also? Great role model for the American Youths.
Why is smoking so alarming? Give it up and move on. Go fix the financial problems our politicians created or solve world hunger. Those are things that really can make a difference.
Why is smoking so alarming....I have witnessed so many asthma children brought in to the ER due to second hand smoke form their parents. An asthma attack is not a pretty picture to witness. Number one cause of bladder cancer is second hand smoke. Number one cause of lung, mouth and throat cancer. Number one cause of COPD disease. When a 20-30 yrs smoker finds out they have cancer then they are alarmed. I feel sorry for the spouses who have never smoked but was around second hand smoke for years are now battling bladder cancer.
Sounds like a self-correcting problem. Does the insurance in these developing countries cover self-inflicted disease?
War kills and maims many too. Also costs me more tax dollars. Also increases health care costs when soldiers come home maimed with missing limbs. So, let's ban war too.
Good one...and so practical....wonder why we didn't think of that....