The tobacco epidemic is still one of the world’s deadliest threats
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus & Dr. Adriana Blanco Marquizo
There remain about 1.3 billion tobacco users globally, prompted by a multibillion-dollar industry that peddles addictive and deadly products and profits from the suffering of those who use them [Daniel Acker/Bloomberg]
In the past 20 years, tobacco use has dropped by one-third globally, and there are an estimated 118 million fewer tobacco users today compared with 2005.
Why? In large part because 20 years ago this week, after years of negotiation, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) entered into force – one of the most widely embraced United Nations treaties in history.
The WHO FCTC was, and remains, a landmark in international law: the first treaty negotiated under the WHO Constitution, incorpo...