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Source from:  tobaccofreecenter.org 10/18/2007

One billion people. More than three quarters of the people in China. Nine times the population of Mexico. Seven times the population of Russia. Double the population of the European Union. One billion people. Tobacco will kill more than one billion people in this century - unless the nations of the world act now to save lives. Already, about five million people a year - almost 14,000 every day - are killed by tobacco, more than are killed by any other single agent. Tobacco's global toll can be measured in many ways: Tobacco accounts for more than one in ten adult deaths around the world. By 2025, tobacco will kill 10 million people a year, 70 percent of them in developing countries. About 650 million people alive today will eventually be killed by tobacco - half of them in middle age, their most productive years. The good news is that the scientific and medical communities in many countries have identified cost-effective tobacco control measures that significantly reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. These measures save lives, improve health and reduce health care expenditures. If adult cigarette consumption is cut in half worldwide, we can prevent more than 300 million deaths from tobacco in the next 50 years. Enditem