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Save children from tobacco scourge, UNICEF urges

"There is no cause of premature death more preventable than the use of tobacco," Ms. Bellamy said. "That is why UNICEF condemns the calculated shift of the tobacco market from its shrinking consumer base in the industrialized countries to the vast, predominantly young populations of the developing world."

The Executive Director said the tobacco industry's actions are a prescription for a global health catastrophe, especially for children and women, who are the prime targets for tobacco advertising and promotion.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that 10 million people a year will die worldwide from tobacco by the year 2025, nearly triple the current toll – and that seven million of these deaths will be in the developing world, most of them adults who began smoking at a young age.

Ms. Bellamy, describing tobacco as a major threat to child rights, called for an urgent effort to develop a worldwide strategy to treat tobacco products commensurate with the harm they cause, beginning with prohibitions on all direct and indirect tobacco advertising and associated promotional activities aimed at children and young people.

Other steps, she said, should include bans on the sale of tobacco to minors; substantial increases in the retail cost of tobacco products; and a massive educational campaign to promote awareness of the addictiveness of nicotine and the dangers of smoking.

She said action against the expansion of the global tobacco market could grow out of alliances involving governments, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations and other representatives of civil society and private enterprise.

Ms. Bellamy said WHO's recent call for a global campaign against tobacco consumption is the most significant development to date in the fight to stem non-communicable diseases, and said that UNICEF stands ready to collaborate closely with WHO in building a broad anti-tobacco alliance.

WHO Director-General-Elect Gro Harlem Brundtland, saying that "children are the most vulnerable" to tobacco, told the World Health Assembly on 13 May that a wide range of partners was needed to halt what she called "the relentless increase in global tobacco consumption."

"We are enormously excited by the very strong leadership voice on tobacco that emerged from Dr. Brundtland's speech," Ms. Bellamy said, "and UNICEF looks forward to meeting this challenge alongside the World Health Organization."

Ms. Bellamy said there is a substantial body of scientific research that shows that increases in the price of cigarettes can have a significant and substantial effect in lowering youth smoking rates. These include studies by the United States Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine and the tobacco industry itself. Studies also indicate that smoking rates and sales drop significantly when advertising is prohibited.

"Children have an absolute right to be protected from tobacco addiction, including the effects of adult smoking, which can compromise a child's health even before birth," the Executive Director said. "And they have a right to be protected from tobacco's collateral effects – including the diversion of household money that could pay for a child's education and medical care, and the sorrow and financial loss that occurs when adult care-givers die early deaths because of tobacco."

Medical studies have established clear links between smoking in the home and the incidence of acute respiratory infections and asthma in children, especially during the first 18 months of life. In addition, babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy, as well as infants exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), face a significantly heightened risk of dying of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

UNICEF advocacy of worldwide curbs on tobacco products is based on the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely embraced human rights instrument in history. The agreement, ratified by 191 countries, obligates governments to safeguard the health of infants and children; protect children from drugs and exploitation; and promote health education.

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