Feature

A globe gasping for breath

Anti-smoking measures in the West mean tobacco companies are looking elsewhere for profits, reports Darryl Cowley

Five hundred million people alive today will eventually be killed by tobacco use. More than half of these are now children and teenagers. By 2030, tobacco is expected to be the single biggest cause of death worldwide, overtaking HIV/Aids and killing one in six – or more than 10 million people – a year. At least seven in 10 of these deaths will be in developing or middle-income countries.

These stark figures emphasise the importance of alerting people in developing countries – particularly policy-makers, campaigners and health workers – of the growing threat that multinational tobacco companies pose to the health of their people and the wealth of their countries.

In many developing countries, the number of women who smoke is low, but beginning to rise. With increasing independence and earning-power, women offer tobacco companies a very large potential market. The companies target women by advertising in women’s magazines and sponsoring TV and fashion events, appealing to the idea that smoking is a sign of affluence and sophistication.

Another area of major concern is the effect of smoking on children, and again the tobacco industry is keen to promote smoking among children. They offer the greatest financial return for the tobacco industry, as the earlier a person starts smoking the more likely they are to continue throughout life.

Even if children only smoke a few cigarettes a week there are specific health effects, and it has also been confirmed that passive smoking has serious effects on children’s health.

Tobacco companies are increasingly targeting the developing world as their market – and profits – in developed countries stagnate. This is because tobacco companies are facing lawsuits from smokers in developed countries and governments are passing more legislation to limit smoking.

Multinational tobacco companies are concentrating their resources on expanding their markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as Eastern Europe. They use political pressure and promote free trade to overwhelm national tobacco monopolies.

There is a double burden to developing countries: the cost to the health of their populations; and the extra burden on their over-stretched health care facilities caring for the growing number of people ill or dying from lung disease.

The declining numbers of smokers in the West has come about because of active campaigning to raise people’s awareness that tobacco can disable or kill, and raising awareness about the effects of environmental tobacco smoke and the economic loss both to individuals, business (through absenteeism) and governments.

Tobacco advertising controls, public health education and information programmes, the implementation of smoke-free areas in workplaces, and restricting the sale of tobacco to children relies on a strongly enforced national tobacco control programme regulated and legislated by government. Tobacco companies push for self-regulation and voluntary agreements.

To develop a successful anti-smoking campaign requires the involvement of politicians, health professionals, non-governmental organisations, journalists, business leaders and the local community – to name but a few. While such movements are established in many developed countries, they are still in their infancy in developing countries.

Litigation against tobacco companies has had a major influence in the fight against tobacco. Legal action, particularly in the US, has done much to publicise misconduct by tobacco companies.

Developing countries may lack the resources to fight tobacco companies, but already Venezuela and Bolivia are seeking compensation from tobacco companies for health expenditure and, in Bangladesh, health advocates won a case banning publicity for a British American Tobacco boat promoting cigarettes.

Tobacco: A Global Threat, by Sir John Crofton and David Simpson, is available from Teaching-aids At Low Cost (TALC) at the reduced price of £4.70 + p&p.

TALC, PO Box 49, St Albans, AL1 5TX. Tel: 01727 853869. Email: talc@talcuk.com