The Report on Global Tobacco Epidemic from WHO
The World Health Organization released their 369 page study called “The Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic in 2008.” In this report, they calculated that by the end of the century, tobacco will have been 
responsible for taking the lives of one billion people. This is an impending tragedy if the current trends of the rate of tobacco consumption continue on the same path. In the 20th Century, 100 million lives were claimed for tobacco’s sake.
Currently, 5.4 million people die each year from illnesses directly linked to tobacco use such as lung cancer and heart disease. That is one life every six seconds. The study states that as soon as 2030 we could see that number jump from 5.4 to 8 million people a year. An additional sobering fact is that 80% of those deaths will be in developing worlds, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly.
With the effects of smoking being so dire, why is it that the number of tobacco consumers continues to rise? Do citizens have a death wish? Do they enjoy the time spent ill, watching their money deplete as it is siphoned off into medications and hospital bills? The problem with getting people to quit smoking or to not light up in the first place, is the same as it is with most other public health problems, lack of education.
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Fire Safe Cigarettes Still Not Fire Proof
The National Fire Protection Association informs us that the top cause of death to civilians by fire is a result of items used for smoking. For example, matches and cigarettes that are either not disposed of properly or just flat out forgotten. Also, tossing a match into the yard or leaving a cigarette to burn while one falls asleep.
More than 900 lives were claimed in fires caused by these materials in 1998. Another 2,500 people were injured senselessly for the same reason. The cost for the combined property damage was $411.7 million.
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USA Today: Plastics, cigarettes, food packaging littering the world’s oceans
Plastic bottles and bags, cigarette butts, and other waste continue to pollute the planet’s oceans regardless of attempts to curb litter, according to a dispatch released today by the United Nations Environment Program. The rubbish destroys wildlife and sea habitat, injuring human health, UNEP asserts.
12 major regional seas were surveyed. Achim Steiner, the head of UNEP, requested a worldwide ban on thin film single use plastic bags.
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