LONDON (DPA) : Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), alcohol, tobacco and fossil fuels are killing 2.7 million people every year across Europe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Experts said “powerful industries” are driving ill health and premature death because they interfere in government policies and efforts to cut cases of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
In a new report, the WHO calls for “strict regulation to curb industry power” and for governments to drive forward health policies that are regularly “challenged, delayed, weakened or stopped” by industry. The WHO said “more than 7,400 people are dying every day” in its European region due to harmful products and practices “driven by commercial industry.” “These commercial products contribute to 24% of all deaths, including significant mortality from cardiovascular diseases (51.
4%) and cancer (46.4%),” it said. Overall, tobacco, alcohol, UPF food and fuel industries are wholly or partly responsible for 2.
7 million deaths per year in Europe, according to the document. Meanwhile, the global picture shows that tobacco, UPFs, fossil fuels and alcohol cause 19 million deaths per year, or 34% of all deaths. Breaking down the data, WHO said 1.
15 million deaths per year in Europe are caused by smoking, 426,857 by alcohol, 117,290 by diets high in processed meats and 252,187 by diets high in salt. These figures do not even include deaths caused by obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar .
