There are 1.1 billion people in the world, and up to 1/3 of the adult population, who use tobacco.
If the current trend continues, number of tobacco users is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by 2025.
Rates of smoking have declined in developed countries, but continue to rise in developing nations.
WHO estimates that tobacco causes 5.4 million deaths per year.
China, which is home to 300 million smokers who consume approximately 1.7 trillion cigarettes a year, or 3 million cigarettes a minute, is the world’s largest tobacco market.
Approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute globally, 15 billon are sold each day, and upward of 5 trillion are produced and used annually.
Toxic chemicals in cigarette filters from tobacco to smoke go to our environment as waste every year.
Radioactive lead and polonium are both found in low levels in cigarette smoke.
More than 50 cancer causing chemical compounds are obtained from second hand smoke of which 11 are known to be group 1 carcinogens.
One in five teens aged 13 to 15 smoke cigarettes worldwide.
Tobacco use claims a human life in every eight seconds somewhere in the world—approximately 5 million deaths annually.
Sustained pollution of major rivers; continuous decline in groundwater reserves; priority allocation to non-consumptive sectors; and, growing disparity in water distribution only indicates that the worst is still to come!..
