The US exports cancer when it exports cigarettes
Jump to full article: InjuryBoard.com, 2008-12-10
Author: 2010 cancer will surpass heart disease, AIDS, malaria and
Intro: The World Health Organization released its 2008 World Cancer Report Tuesday, and the numbers show that developing countries that adopt increasingly Westernized lifestyles and tobacco use are catching up to developed nations in the number of cancer deaths annually.
By 2010 cancer will surpass heart disease, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis as the leading killer in the world.
By 2030 the global cancer deaths are predicted to double. The last time a doubling of cancer rates was seen was between 1975 and 2000.
The report projects that the number of new cancer cases and deaths could more than double in the next twenty years to 27 million people with cancer and 17 million deaths annually.
The burden of cancer is shifting to developing countries such as India, China and Russia, where increasingly a Western lifestyle of smoking, fast and fatty foods and no exercise. . . .
The export of cigarettes to developing nations, to offset reduced sales in the U.S., are expected to have an impact from the “smoking epidemic” that has yet to been seen.
''How can we promote an addictive product that we know causes cancer, emphysema, heart disease, birth defects and other illnesses?'' asked Dr. Raymond Scalettar, member of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association criticizing the Bush Administration’s trade policy of fostering exports by U.S. tobacco companies in 1989. ''This is not an issue of free trade. It is an issue of public health policy and law.''
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