Smoke Alarm

As Western governments take action to curb smoking, are tobacco companies just replacing lost smokers with new ones in developing countries?
Samet: There are a small number of very large companies like Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco [which owns brands like Lucky Strike and Pall Mall], and the world's largest is China National Tobacco. The industry has turned to the developing world to find markets. They're very large markets. China has 350 million smokers.

What about Africa?
Samet: Some of the companies are moving into the African market, like British American Tobacco.

With all the proven health hazards associated with smoking, does the rest of the world have a moral obligation to warn less educated targets of tobacco companies in developing countries?
Wipfli: Everyone has a moral obligation to warn the population about the harms of tobacco use. Last week Philip Morris International was spun off of Altria, the domestic U.S. company, and Philip Morris USA [meaning it's now independent]. These companies now are close to stateless. They really don't have a government controlling them. They're very unregulated. While the government has a responsibility to act, the companies themselves want to remain beyond the reach of regulation.

Unchecked, WHO estimates that tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than 8 million a year by 2030, with 80 percent of the deaths in the developing world. Do you think you can reverse the trend?
Samet: [Already] 152 countries have agreed to the provisions, which provide a template for tobacco control. In the United States, cigarette smoking peaked in the 1960s. Percentagewise we're down to 50 percent, roughly, of where peak smoking was. We know we can begin to curb tobacco use. The question is: how fast we can do it? It would be unfortunate if the developing countries had a new epidemic start, and the world did not move to prevent it.

© 2008