By celebrating the World No Tobacco Day, every year on May 31st, the World Health Organization seeks to launch a campaign meant to shed light on the serious dangers posed by smoking, and call upon policy-makers to adopt certain policies to diminish tobacco-use. On the global scale, tobacco-use is the second reason for death (hypertension being the first). It causes 10% of death among adults throughout the world.
In 1987, WHO designated May 31 as World No Tobacco Day to draw global attention to the health risks of tobacco use. In 2005, provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control took effect. A total of 175 countries have ratified this treaty, making it one of the most widely embraced treaties in United Nations history.
The campaign will focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry's brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health.
Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80% will live in low- and middle-income countries.
As more and more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO FCTC, the tobacco industry's efforts to undermine the treaty are becoming more and more energetic.
For example, in an attempt to halt the adoption of pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco, the industry recently adopted the novel tactic of suing countries under bilateral investment treaties, claiming that the warnings impinge the companies' attempts to use their legally-registered brands.
Meanwhile, the industry's attempts to undermine the treaty continue on other fronts, particularly with regard to countries' attempts to ban smoking in enclosed public places and to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
World No Tobacco Day 2012 will educate policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco industry's nefarious and harmful tactics.
It will also be in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the WHO FCTC. The preamble of the treaty recognizes "the need to be alert to any efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control efforts and the need to be informed of activities of the tobacco industry that have a negative impact on tobacco control efforts".
On World No Tobacco Day 2012, launched under the theme: “Stop Tobacco Industry Interference”, and throughout the following year, WHO will urge countries to put the fight against tobacco industry interference at the heart of their efforts to control the global tobacco epidemic.
Internationally Approved Date: 31/5/2012
Locally Approved Date: 10/7/1433 H
Theme of World No Tobacco Day:
“Stop Tobacco Industry Interference”
Targeted Groups:
- Smokers, and their families.
- Health workers (physicians, health educationists, social workers, policy-makers, and planning officials).
- Anti-smoking societies and institutions (e.g., the Saudi Anti-Smoking Charity, and the Anti-Smoking Program).
- The public.
Objectives & General Messages of World No Tobacco Day :
- The World Health Organization (WHO) seeks to uncover the tricks of tobacco industry. Following are some of these tricks:
- Tobacco industry tries to make smoking addiction as normal as internet addiction, etc., seeking to make it more attractive for the youth.
- It's been so long since tobacco industry discovered that nicotine is the main reason for smoking addiction. However, it concealed this fact until it was discovered by scientists.
- Tobacco industry makes every effort to ameliorate the impact of one of the articles of the FCTC, stipulating banning the publicity and promotion of tobacco products, seeking to weaken the enactment of this decision.
- Tobacco industry endeavors to demolish the effect of one of the FCTC articles, stipulating putting warning pictures on the packages of tobacco products, on the ground that these products are officially registered.
- Tobacco industry adds certain flavors to its products to attract the youth to embark on smoking.
- These flavors might be of such favorable tastes as menthol, honey, cherry, chocolate, in addition to such materials as ammonia, sweeteners, colors, vitamins, and essential fatty acids.
- Tobacco industry tries to deceive people by promoting the so-called “light” and “moderate” cigarettes, and designs special packages for these kinds of cigarettes, where in fact this is not but a new trick. Such “light” cigarettes are as harmful as any cigarettes.
- Tobacco industry has managed to promote their products by making use of dramas and movies, to compensate the banned publicity in newspapers.
- It's been some for decades now since tobacco industry got to know that tobacco smoke includes certain radiating particles causing cancer, and however they concealed this information.
- Tobacco industry has promoted a new product, called the “electronic cigarettes”, claiming that it is a way to quit smoking. The World Health Organization (WHO) has exposed the falsity of this deception, and categorized this kind of cigarettes as but a new tobacco product, just like all kinds of smoking and hookah.
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