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Tobacco 'Deadly in Any Form'

Global health officials want people to remember that any kind of tobacco -- not just cigarettes -- can be hazardous to their health. That's the focus of this year's World No Tobacco Day, May 31.

This year's observance targets young people in particular, and coincides with the release of new data on tobacco use among teenagers around the world.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Youth Tobacco Survey finds that more than 17% of kids aged 13-15 currently use some form of tobacco. About 9% use cigarettes, and about 11% use other forms of tobacco including chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, cigars, cigarillos, little cigars, pipes, and shisha (flavored tobacco for hookah pipes).

The survey included more than 747,000 young people in 132 countries and the Gaza Strip/West Bank during the years 1999-2005. The findings were published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The WHO estimates that tobacco use is responsible for some 5 million deaths each year worldwide, and projects that the annual death toll will be 10 million by 2020. While the risks of cigarette smoking are well-publicized, the risks posed by different types of tobacco may not be as familiar.

For instance, smokeless tobacco is a cause of oral cancer and might be a risk factor for heart disease, according to information accompanying the article in MMWR. Likewise, bidis (flavored cigarettes) also raise the risk of mouth, lung, and esophageal cancer, while waterpipe smoking raises the risk of mouth and lip cancer and obstructive lung disease.

This year's World No Tobacco Day aims to make young people aware of those risks, and to highlight tobacco company marketing practices that the WHO calls deceptive.

"Tobacco companies continue to launch new weapons in the form of products disguised to appear less harmful and more attractive," the WHO says in materials prepared for the event. Their strategies include "promoting and selling new products disguised under healthier names, fruity flavors or more attractive-looking packaging."

Regardless of form, flavor, or disguise, says WHO, tobacco is still a killer.

"Mild, light, low tar, full flavor, fruit flavored, chocolate flavored, natural, additive-free, organic cigarettes, PREPS (Potentially Reduced-Exposure Products), harm-reduced they are all deadly," the WHO materials state.

Citation: Use of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Among Students Aged 1315 Years Worldwide, 1999--2005." Published in the May 26, 2006, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Vol. 55, No. 20: 553-556). First author: Y. Mochizuki-Kobayashi, MD, PhD, Tobacco Free Inititative, Geneva, Switzerland.