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WHO’s new campaign to tackle yearly 8 million preventable tobacco-related deaths

The World Health Organisation (WHO) officially launched the “Stop the lies” campaign on Thursday as a vital initiative to stop the 8 million preventable tobacco-related deaths occurring every year by calling for an end to tobacco industry interference in health policy.

This campaign is supported by new evidence from “The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023”, published by STOP and the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, which shows that efforts to protect health policy from increased tobacco industry interference have deteriorated around the world.

The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023, which ranked 90 countries, revealed no country was immune to the powerful tobacco companies’ intensified efforts to sway policy and policymakers to their advantage, with tactics including aggressive lobbying to create acceptance for electronic products and significant efforts to hide environmental damage caused by both cigarettes and electronic products.

WHO said the campaign will amplify youth voices, expose tobacco industry tactics, increase public awareness of the need to defend health policies and protect the health of future generations, and ensure that youth groups around the world call on countries to adopt decisions that will shield youths from the manipulative practices of tobacco and related industries.

Director of Health Promotion, WHO, Dr Ruediger Krech, stated, “WHO stands with young people globally who have demanded governments protect them against a deadly industry that targets them with new harmful products while outright lying about the health impacts. We call on all countries to safeguard health policies from this deadly industry by not letting them have a seat at the policy-making table”.

Recognising the tobacco industry’s relentless efforts to market its products to vulnerable groups, especially young people, WHO announced its resolve to expose the industry’s attempts to weaken health policies and call on policymakers to stand firm against tobacco industry influence.

In the release, WHO insisted that smoking does not cause lung cancer, contrary to the stand of the tobacco industry, saying that tobacco causes 25% of all cancers and kills over 8 million people each year, despite the industry’s persistence in marketing what they call ‘new’ and ‘safer’ products that are known to be harmful to health and still producing trillions of cigarettes each year.

It added: “With half of all tobacco users dying prematurely, the maintenance of the tobacco and nicotine market relies heavily on recruiting new, young users, and tobacco companies employ multiple tactics to gain the trust and interest of young people at an early age.

“Menthol- and flavour-flavoured cigarettes and candy-flavoured e-cigarettes with eye-catching designs have further contributed to the popularisation of these products among the young generation, all while leaving many consumers largely unaware of the negative effects on their health.

“The tobacco industry invests enormous amounts of money in lobbying against tobacco control policies and funds organisations that promote its interests.

“These tobacco tactics, when left unchecked, inflict immeasurable harm on public health. Moreover, the production and use of tobacco and nicotine products have a cascading damaging effect on other critical issues such as the environment, mental health, and child labour.”

Head of Global Research and Advocacy for the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, a partner in the STOP network and lead author of the Index, Mary Assunta (PhD), stated in a reaction, “The tobacco industry is aggressive in sabotaging government efforts to strengthen tobacco control. This report confirms that there is no room for complacency; the key to arresting industry interference lies in the hands of governments. They must use Article 5.3, which will empower them to do their utmost to stop the 8 million preventable tobacco-related deaths every year.”

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