Toward A Tobacco Free World Preface This e-book Toward A Tobacco Free World is being given away to inform people about the significant adverse effect tobacco continues to have on humanity. It’s also being given away to create awareness of the World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day on May 31st. According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion people will die from smoking in this century. This dire scenario doesn’t have to hap- pen. The time is NOW to act as a community in preventing children and teens from starting to use tobacco products and helping those who want to quit. The Good News and the Bad News Since the printed version of Toward A Tobacco Free World came out at the end of 2006 (Ending The Tobacco Holocaust), the U.S. has expe- rienced a decrease in tobacco smoking as well as a decrease in overall exposure to second-hand smoke. That’s the good news. Specifically, the percentage of adults who smoke has dropped from 20.8 % to 19.8 %, and the percentage of high school seniors who smoked in the last 30 days has dropped from 21.6% to 20.4%. However, the bad news is that 19.8 % of adults and 20.4 % of high school seniors in the U.S. still smoke. The U.S. government’s Healthy People 2010 goals called for only 12% of adults, and 16% of adolescents, to smoke by 2010. It IS a Big Deal Interestingly, when asked, many Americans don’t regard the tobacco problem as a big issue. Yet it is, given that 430,000 to 450,000 Americans die from tobacco use and second hand tobacco smoke each year, and more than 3,300,000 Americans have died from tobacco use and second hand tobacco smoke since 9/11/2001. Suffering As Well As Death The billion people likely to die from smoking in this century don’t represent all of the suffering. Close to another billion will suffer ill heath Toward a Tobacco Free World issues and impaired finances due to using tobacco. Consider this: as a group, smokers in the U.S. are sick 11 more days a year and absent from work eight more days a year than non-smokers. In addition, most of the rest of the world has far less protection from second-hand tobacco smoke than in the U.S. It’s estimated another 1 billion people will suffer from second-hand tobacco smoke and at that at least 100 million people may die from second-hand tobacco smoke in this century worldwide. Around the world, tobacco use and suffering continues to increase, especially in developing nations. We also see disturbing trends in devel- oped countries like Scotland where teen smoking has increased by 30% in this decade. It is estimated that by 2020 to 2025, 10 million people worldwide may die each year from tobacco use. Smoking Affects Everyone Non-smokers often think of smokers as “them” and not “us.” But as a community, we need to realize that most people start to smoke as our children and underage teens. Currently, about 80% of smokers in the U.S start before age 18. In addition, people with mental illness have high rates of tobacco use. More than 70% of schizophrenics smoke, and between 45% and 65% of those who suffer from major depression, bi- polar disorder, PTSD, and panic disorder also smoke. In addition, 80% of people with alcohol, heroin, or cocaine problems smoke. As a nation and world, it’s under-aged children and teens, and a disproportionately high percentage of the mentally ill, who start using tobacco products and become addicted to them. Act NOW Starting right now, regardless of our political affiliation, we can -ap ply that hopeful phrase that President Barack Obama used in his 2008 presidential campaign and say: Yes We Can keep our underage children and teens safe by prevent- ing the sale of tobacco products to them. Yes We Can help to decrease the spread of deadly tobacco products around the world. Yes We Can help smokers who want to quit do so by ensuring ac- cess to effective cessation methods, and by compassionately supporting their efforts. ii Preface to E-book Yes We Can prevent people from being exposed to the harmful ef- fects of second hand tobacco smoke. Let’s create a brighter future for humanity. Let’s work as a conscious and caring community to end the tobacco problem. Michael Rabinoff May, 2009 Keep reading to find out specific ways you can take action. World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day The World Health Organization’s statement about this year’s World No Tobacco Day follows (http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2009/en/ index.html). World No Tobacco Day will be held on May 31, 2009. The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day is tobacco health warnings. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death. More than five million people die from the effects of tobacco every year—more than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. It is the only legal consumer product that kills when used exactly as the manufacturer in- tends. Up to half of all smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease. Second-hand smoke harms everyone who is exposed to it. Tobacco companies spend tens of millions of dollars every year turning new users into addicts and keeping current users from quitting. Through advertising and promotional campaigns, including the use of iii Toward a Tobacco Free World carefully crafted package designs, the tobacco industry continues to di- vert attention from the deadly effects of its products. More and more countries are fighting back by requiring that to- bacco packages graphically show the dangers of tobacco, as called for in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. They use the MPOWER technical assistance package developed by WHO to meet their commitments under this international treaty. Effective health warnings, especially those that include pictures, have been proven to motivate users to quit and to reduce the appeal of tobacco for those who are not yet addicted. Despite this fact, 9 out of 10 people live in countries that do not require warnings with pictures on tobacco packages. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance. Warning people about its true risks can go a long way towards reducing tobacco addiction. Re- quiring warnings on tobacco packages is a simple, cheap and effective strategy that can vastly reduce tobacco use and save lives. Now is the time to act. MPOWER Current World Health Organization guidelines for tobacco control can be summarized using this acronym “MPOWER.” Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. Protect people from tobacco smoke. Offer help to quit tobacco use. Warn about the dangers of tobacco. Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. Raise taxes on tobacco. You can download the MPOWER report at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/package/en/index.html (Note: versions are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French Russian and Spanish) WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World iv Preface to E-book Health Organization. Adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003 and entered into force on February 27, 2005, it has since be- come one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history. To date, 164 Countries have ratified it. The U.S. signed it on May 10, 2004, but President Bush never sent it to Congress to ratify it. (http://www.who. int/fctc/en/index.html) The WHO FCTC was developed to respond to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. It’s an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation. Act Now: E-Mail, Fax, or Mail President Obama About Tobacco Control Issues If you want to e-mail or send a fax or letter to President Obama about sending the WHO FCTC treaty to Congress for ratification, or to support other anti-tobacco legislation, you can do so at: http://www.TobaccoBook.com/Obama.html or http://www.TobaccoFreeBook.com/Obama.html (Note: two server systems are being used in case one goes down due to volume. If both are down, come back later.) To make the process quick and easy, you’ll find sample text provided that you can modify any way you wish. For the benefit of humanity, please take the brief amount of time needed, and e-mail President Obama about these issues. Act Now: E-Mail, Fax, or Mail Your Senators and Representa- tive About Tobacco Control Issues If you want to e-mail or send a fax or letter to your Senator or Rep- resentative to the U.S. House of Representatives to support ratification of the WHO FCTC treaty, or to support other anti-tobacco legislation, you can do so at: http://www.TobaccoBook.com/Congress.html or v Toward a Tobacco Free World http://www.TobaccoFreeBook.com/Congress.html (Note: two server systems are being used in case one goes down due to volume. If both are down, come back later.) For the benefit of humanity, please take the brief amount of time needed and e-mail your Senators and Representatives about these issues. To make the process quick and easy, you’ll find sample text pro- vided that you can modify any way you wish: This e-book may be distributed and used freely in its entirety.