Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke causes death, disease and disability. As many as 200 000 workers die every year due to exposure to second-hand smoke at work and almost half of the world’s children breathe tobacco smoke.
On World No Tobacco Day, WHO focuses on the urgent need for countries to make all indoor public places and workplaces 100% smoke-free.
Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is well known that half the people who smoke regularly today ? about 650 million people ? will eventually be killed by tobacco. Equally alarming is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who have never smoked die each year from diseases caused by breathing second-hand tobacco smoke.
This year’s World No Tobacco Day focuses on 100% SMOKE-FREE ENVIRONMENTS as the only effective measure to protect the public ? including women and children, and people at their workplaces ? from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.
In a growing number of countries, the norm has already changed: BEFORE smoking was allowed practically everywhere; NOW places are 100% smoke-free.
Neither ventilation nor filtration, alone or in combination, can reduce exposure levels of tobacco smoke indoors to levels that are considered acceptable, even in terms of odor, much less health effects.
The evidence demands an immediate, decisive response, to protect the health of all people.