Tobacco causes 4 million deaths each year -- one life every eight seconds. Unless action is taken, that number is expected to grow to 10 million by 2030. Government representatives convened in Geneva last week under the auspices of the World Health Organization to resume discussion on the world's first convention to regulate the use of tobacco. It promises to be an uphill fight.
Efforts to draft a convention began in earnest in October 1999, when delegates reached consensus on the need for such a document. They agreed that any draft should ban or restrict tobacco advertising and promotion and also address smuggling and the use of pricing and taxation to deter use. Progress has been forthcoming because the discussions have been primarily technical; when political and economic representatives join in, progress could go up in smoke.
The problem is growing. Increasingly health-conscious consumers in the developed world have forced tobacco companies to move to overseas markets and to target younger audiences. The WHO estimates that, worldwide, between 82,000 and 99,000 young people start smoking every day. Education campaigns and advertising limits are the least that can be done.