Washington, DC, 23 May 2002 (PAHO)-- While scientists look for a vaccine against AIDS and work to eradicate measles, another epidemic stalks the Americas, taking an annual toll of more than 1 million lives, a plague that science finds difficult to fight not only because the dependency is so strong, but because a powerful industry promotes it. Tobacco is the scourge in this case, and it is a bane that is not easy to control.

"Today, in the Region of the Americas, tobacco causes more deaths than AIDS, alcohol and drug abuse, traffic accidents, and violence combined. And yet, deaths from tobacco use are totally preventable," said Dr. George Alleyne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Unfortunately, according to PAHO, the measures most effective in reducing tobacco use are not being implemented in most of the Americas. While there is not a vaccine against tobacco, there is wide consensus on what works to reduce tobacco use. "Ample evidence shows that policy measures - such as higher tobacco taxes, the elimination of tobacco promotion, strong health information on tobacco packages, and the mandatory implementation of smoke free environments in public places and workplaces - reduce youth smoking initiation and help smokers quit smoking," said Dr. Alleyne.

In parallel with negotiations on an international tobacco control treaty, PAHO has declared war on tobacco, working to educate governments and the public about the human and financial costs of tobacco use and the solutions to the problem. The Organization launched the Smoke Free Americas initiative last year to focus on the serious harm caused by second-hand smoke exposure and to support the implementation of smoke-free public places and workplaces. Every May 31 PAHO observes World No-Tobacco Day, this year with the theme Tobacco-free Sports: Play it Clean, focusing on the need to eliminate tobacco sponsorship from sports.

Measures to reduce tobacco use often run into the argument that the tobacco industry is a source of income for the economies of the countries. However, facts demonstrate that any economic gains from tobacco are exceeded many times over by the net negative cost of tobacco consumption on the economies of the countries that produce it. A report released in April 2002 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that every pack of cigarettes sold in the U.S. costs that country an estimated $7.18 in medical care costs and lost productivity, not to mention the 440,000 annual deaths caused by tobacco.

"The costs of tobacco use in lives - as well as in financial resources that could be redirected to a host of other pressing, less preventable health problems - are ones that no country can afford. This should provide the strength and political will needed for governments to act," Dr. Alleyne said.

With tobacco use not decreasing in the region and with youth smoking rates particularly high, Governing Bodies of the Pan American Health Organization have called for the elimination of tobacco promotion, the protection of nonsmokers from exposure to second-hand smoke through implementation of smoke-free environments, and increases in tobacco taxes to decrease the affordability of tobacco, explained Dr. Alleyne.

"We already know, from experts and from experience, that the best approach to tobacco control is to discourage people from ever starting to smoke-but the competition is fierce. Tobacco firms invest huge sums of money in marketing and advertising to persuade people to smoke. But every 10 percent increase in the price of tobacco products results in an 8 percent decrease in consumption, with an even greater impact on youth. And smoke free environments are estimated to be responsible for between 13 percent and 22 percent of the declines in smoking in developed countries. These are among the most effective weapons in our anti-tobacco arsenal," Dr. Alleyne said.

PAHO serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and is the oldest international health organization in the world. It works with all the countries of the Americas to improve health and quality of life, with the goal of health for all in the Americas.

Related Information:
PAHO BOOKS:
Tobacco-free Youth: A "life skills" primer
Tobacco or Health: Status in the Americas : A Report of the Pan American