Tobacco Kills 6 Million

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arch 21 (Bloomberg) -- Tobacco use killed almost 6 million people last year and was the top cause of death in China, the world's biggest cigarette market, the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation reported.Four of every five deaths were in low- and middle-income countries, and 1 billion people may die from tobacco use and exposure this century if current trends continue, according to the report, released in Singapore today.
Tobacco-related deaths almost tripled in the past decade amid a 17 percent jump in cigarette production and increased affordability of the cancer-causing products in low-income nations. The tobacco industry generates about $500 billion in annual sales, with the six biggest companies making a combined profit of $35.1 billion in 2010, said Judith Mackay, who co- wrote the report.
"The tobacco industry is among the top-10 most influential industries in the world because of its sheer magnitude of wealth and sales," Mackay, a physician and adviser to the World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization, said in a telephone interview on March 20.
hinese Consumption
"'Big Tobacco' first tried to bully the global community out of advancing this treaty," said John Stewart, senior organizer of Corporate Accountability International's campaign Challenging Big Tobacco. "Now it's attempting to bully countries out of enforcing it."
Bloomberg Philanthropies is a major donor to the World Lung Foundation. Bloomberg Philanthropies was set up by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
China is the world's biggest producer and consumer of tobacco, accounting for 38 percent of cigarettes smoked worldwide in 2009, the groups said today.
Excise should be almost tripled in China to dissuade young people from becoming addicted, the World Health Organization said on March 14.
The price of cigarettes in China is already "quite high" and the ability of higher prices to discourage smoking isn't proven, Minister of Industry and Information Technology  Miao Wei said in Beijing on March 11.[/color]