Smoking Kills !!!

A video collage of cigarette-related images.

Tobacco industry for the last 50 years or so has managed to stay in business despite the fact that since 1950's medical studies have been revealing a direct and drastic link between smoking and cancer.

Today, almost 40% of cancers are preventable. However, with 1 billion smokers world-wide, the whole globe has been duped by the biggest drug dealers ever.

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that 70% of the deaths from smoking-related illnesses will occur in low- and middle-income countries by 2020. Smoking is likely to have a particularly devastating effect on China, where the annual death toll from smoking-related diseases already exceeds 1 million — 2.5 times that in the United States — and is expected to double by 2025 if smoking rates are not reduced.

Developing countries are particularly susceptible to the Big Tobacco onslaught as they lack funds for education campaigns and are easily taken advantage via agressive advertising, usually targeting the most susceptible population - children.
(90% of new smokers in the United States are under age).

But US, Canada, Australia, UK aren't safer...

In the US, Marlboro is preferred by 60% of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade boys and girls (14-18 year olds) who smoke. Among white 12th graders, Marlboro's share of the market is even higher at 70%. Between 1988 and 1997, the Marlboro campaign was responsible for convincing 1.4 million children to try smoking. If current trends continue, about 200 000 of these new smokers will die prematurely from smoking related disease.

In 2005, cigarette sales generated $32.5 billion in taxes and profits in China, approximately 7.6% of the government's total revenue. In contrast, the government spent $31,000 on tobacco control. Tobacco remains a pillar of the Chinese economy: consumers spend more on cigarettes than on alcohol or personal care products. Moreover, tobacco is seen as key to economic growth in the more remote, poorer sections of the country, such as Yunnan province, whose government depends on tobacco sales for more than 50% of its revenues.

The money is just too good to stop it.

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The info just keeps coming and coming...

It's time to stop the whole scam.

Dig around. Read for yourself.

Some resources:
http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com
http://www.bmj.com
http://content.nejm.org