UN calls for govts to step up fight on ‘World No Tobacco Day’

World Today

Indian nurse students hold placards as they participate in an anti smoking rally ahead of World No Tobacco Day in Hyderabad on May 30, 2019. – World Health Organisation (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on May 31, to create awareness against tobacco consumption around the globe. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP)

Health experts often highlight a grim statistic: Tobacco kills up to half its users. As the United Nations marks ‘World No Tobacco Day’ on May 31, it’s asking countries to step-up the fight against both traditional cigarettes – and the trendy ‘vaping’ of electronic cigarettes.
CGTN’s Gerald Tan has more

According to the World Health Organization, one person dies every four seconds from tobacco exposure. And despite a steady reduction in the use of the substance, it kills more than 8 million people every year.

But it’s not just smokers who are affected. Over 1.2 million deaths are caused each year by exposure to second-hand smoke. The U.N.’s ‘World No-Tobacco Day’ seeks to highlight the detrimental effects of tobacco on health.

The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says: “Our vision is a world in which the healthy choice is the easy choice. Our vision is a world in which… the tobacco industry goes out of business because no one wants it products.”

And some countries are ramping up efforts towards this goal. Sweden aims to be smoke-free by 2025. Come July, smoking will be illegal in most public places. The ban includes vaping and e-cigarettes.

This month, Singapore became the latest place to introduce smoking cabins, placed strategically across the city-state. A three-layer filtration system takes in cigarette smoke and pumps out clean air. Denmark, Japan, Kuwait and the UAE have similar systems.

Meanwhile, China has drawn up new standards to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes. It’s currently the world’s largest tobacco producer and consumer.

The WHO is urging governments to do more to combat tobacco consumption — calling the epidemic one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.


China proposes new standards to regulate e-cigarette industry

CGTN’s Li Juanhua has this report on how China will combat the problem of e-cigarettes.


Jidong Huang on tobacco use in China

CGTN’s Mike Walter speaks to Georgia State University Associate Professor Jidong Huang on tobacco use in China.