Source: Reuters
Date: 2010-02-26
Author: Stephanie Nebehay

Governments must do more to protect workers in bars, restaurants
and the entertainment sector from harmful smoke, and curb tobacco
advertising and sponsorship, the World Health Organisation said
on Friday.

Developing countries are the new frontier for tobacco companies,
which often target women and girls, and smoking rates remain high
among poor people in affluent countries, it said.

Tobacco kills more than 5 million people a year from
cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and other chronic
illnesses, including about 600,000 from second-hand smoke,
according to the United Nations agency.

"Most alarming of all, tobacco use is actually increasing in
many developing countries. If Big Tobacco is in retreat in some
parts of the world, it is on the march in others," Dr. Margaret
Chan, WHO director-general, told a meeting to review
implementation of a landmark tobacco treaty five years after it
came into force.

"As we all know, the tobacco industry is ruthless, devious, rich
and powerful," she said.