Report: Tobacco Use Kills 6M People a Year

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(CBS) Tobacco use causes 6 million deaths a year, a third of those deaths from cancer, according to a report released by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation.

The tobacco industry is targeting countries with fewer tobacco controls and less effective public health campaigns, according to the American Cancer Society, which predicts that 72 percent of tobacco-related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2010. The report predicts that 2 million people will die each year from tobacco-related cancer by 2015.

Click here to read the full report

"The Tobacco Atlas presents compelling evidence that the health burden is shifting from richer countries to their lower-resource counterparts," said Peter Baldini, chief executive officer of the World Lung Foundation. "This evidence clearly articulates the breathtaking scope and dimensions of the problem. It calls out to be used actively in strengthening the case for policy change."

The American Cancer Society estimates that the tobacco industry has caused a $500 billion loss in the global economy, citing premature deaths of smokers in their most productive years and tobacco fields taking the place of agricultural fields on nearly 4 million hectares of land. Since 1960, tobacco production has increased by three times in low- and middle-income countries. But in richer countries, production has been cut in half.

The Tobacco Atlas is published by the two organizations to help develop public health strategies to reduce tobacco use worldwide.

Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/26/health/main5266774.shtml

Marketing and tobacco use in youth

New report from The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and co-edited by University of Minnesota professor Barbara Loken, reaches the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing and depictions of smoking in movies promote youth smoking. "There is now incontrovertible evidence that marketing of tobacco, and the depiction of smoking in the movies, promote youth smoking and can cause young people to begin smoking," said Loken, professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management and one of the report's five scientific editors.

The 684-page monograph, "The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use," presents definitive conclusions that

a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and
b) exposure to depictions of smoking in movies causes youth smoking initiation.

The report also concludes that while mass media campaigns can reduce tobacco use, youth smoking prevention campaigns sponsored by the tobacco industry are generally ineffective and may even increase youth smoking.

"The role of marketing in the success of the tobacco companies is conclusive," according to Loken. "The report's recommendations offer the best approach to employ marketing techniques and the media to help prevent a further increase in youth smoking."

The NCI report reaches six major conclusions:

1. Cigarettes are one of the most heavily marketed products in the United States.

2. Tobacco advertising targets psychological needs of adolescents, such as popularity and peer acceptance. Advertising creates the perception that smoking satisfies these needs.

3. Even brief exposure to tobacco advertising influences adolescents' perceptions about smoking, smokers, and adolescents' intentions to smoke.

4. The depiction of cigarette smoking is pervasive in movies, occurring in 75 percent or more of contemporary box-office hits, with identifiable brands in about one-third of movies.

5. A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and promotion is an effective policy intervention that prevents tobacco companies from shifting marketing expenditures to permitted media.

6. The tobacco industry works hard to impede tobacco control media campaigns, including attempts to prevent or reduce their funding.

"This direct link between marketing and tobacco use is very powerful." Loken said, "Anti-tobacco ads before films and a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising are two effective strategies found to curb effects of tobacco images on youth. Now we need to use marketing to steer youth and others away from tobacco."

The report provides the most current and comprehensive analysis of more than 1,000 scientific studies on the role of the media in encouraging and discouraging tobacco use. The report is Monograph 19 in the NCI's Tobacco Control Monograph series examining critical issues in tobacco prevention and control. Research included in the review comes from the disciplines of marketing, psychology, communications, statistics, epidemiology and public health.

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