The World Health Organisation (WHO) and STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog, have launched “ Hooking the next generation,” a report highlighting how the tobacco and nicotine industryw designs products. WHO said this in a statement made available on Thursday. According to it, the launch comes just ahead of World No Tobacco Day marked on May 31, where WHO is amplifying the voices of young people who are calling on governments to protect them from being targets of the tobacco and nicotine industry.
“Hooking the next generation,” a report highlighting how the tobacco and nicotine industry designs products, implements marketing campaigns and works to shape policy environments to help them addict the world’s youth,” it said. It said that the report showed that globally an estimated 37 million children aged 13–15 years use tobacco, and in many countries, the rate of e-cigarette use among adolescents exceeds that of adults. The statement said that in the WHO European Region, 20 per cent of 15-year-olds surveyed reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.
“Despite significant progress in reducing tobacco use, the emergence of e-cigarettes and other new tobacco and nicotine products present a grave threat to youth and tobacco control. “Studies demonstrate that e-cigarette use increases conventional cigarette use, particularly among non-smoking youth, by nearly three times,” it said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said that history was repeatin.