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As many as 105 million young people in the Asia-Pacific region risk dying from smoking-related diseases, the World Health Organisation has warned. And as many as 50,000 teenagers are taking up smoking every day, said the WHO's Philippines-based regional office.
If that rate continues, a quarter of young people could die from lung cancer, heart disease and other smoking-related illness in later life, the report said.
The WHO is calling for tougher anti-smoking regulations across the region, currently among the weakest worldwide.
With the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, the region has low taxes on cigarettes, poor regulations on advertising and almost no control on sponsorship, the WHO said.
"The industry is seeking a new generation of young smokers, to replace the millions who die from tobacco," said Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director for WHO's Western Pacific Region.
Loopholes
The WHO has won support from the International Olympic Committee and the football's governing body Fifa to make sports free from tobacco advertising, sponsorship, consumption and sales.
The football World Cup, which starts in Japan and South Korea on Friday, will promote anti-smoking policies.
However, multinational tobacco companies are among the top 10 advertisers in several Asian countries, spending billions of dollars a year to promote cigarettes and sponsor sports events and pop concerts.
And the WHO warned that even where controls are in place, the companies are finding other ways of promoting their products. It cited the situation in Malaysia where tobacco companies are banned from advertising directly but can use brand names for varied non-tobacco products.
The WHO also warned that up to a third of Chinese men aged below 30 are likely to eventually die from smoking-related disease, backing up academic studies reported last year.
[BBC News Online]
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Last Revised at December 10, 2007 by Lusine Kazoyan, M.D.
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