Experts call on the United Nations to support a tobacco-free world by 2040

A group of international public health experts have called for a tobacco-free world, where less than 5% of adults smoke, by 2040.

In an article published in The Lancet, the researchers and policy experts state that, with enough political support and action from governments, the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) against the tobacco industry, their vision of a tobacco-free world could be realised within 25 years.

In the paper, the researchers also state that current anti-tobacco efforts are failing, pointing to the fact that, in the decade since the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control came into place, around 50 million people globally have died from tobacco use. They also highlight the fact that many countries are not on track to meet smoking reduction targets, and that several low- and middle-income countries are actually at risk of having an increased number of smokers.

Read the original news story.

Read the journal article.

To find out more about the health risks of active and passive smoking, visit the SmokeHaz website.