Tobacco Control Measures

The number of smokers worldwide has dropped steadily in recent years, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, urging countries to step up control measures further to kick deadly tobacco addiction.

Ahead of the Kerala assembly polls, a group of medical activists on Monday appealed to all political parties to include tobacco control as a public health measure in their election manifestos.

Prohibiting smoking in the home is really the only way to prevent babies from being exposed to tobacco smoke, according to new research. Banning smoking in the home leads to a small but meaningful fall in infant exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, whereas less strict measures have no effect.

Secondhand smoke causes measurable damage to a child's learning ability, affecting reading, math and reasoning, as reported recently by researchers. Many such children are affected by secondhand smoke, and WHO estimates that half of the world's children, more than 700 million, are now exposed to secondhand smoke.

The number of smokers worldwide has dropped steadily in recent years, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, urging countries to step up control measures further to kick deadly tobacco addiction.

Ahead of the Kerala assembly polls, a group of medical activists on Monday appealed to all political parties to include tobacco control as a public health measure in their election manifestos.

Prohibiting smoking in the home is really the only way to prevent babies from being exposed to tobacco smoke, according to new research. Banning smoking in the home leads to a small but meaningful fall in infant exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, whereas less strict measures have no effect.

Secondhand smoke causes measurable damage to a child's learning ability, affecting reading, math and reasoning, as reported recently by researchers. Many such children are affected by secondhand smoke, and WHO estimates that half of the world's children, more than 700 million, are now exposed to secondhand smoke.