World No Tobacco Day --- May 31, 2008

The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2008 is Tobacco-Free Youth: Break the Tobacco Marketing Net. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars worldwide on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. Recent data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey indicate an increase in tobacco use among adolescent girls in many countries. Much of this increase has been attributed to aggressive marketing by the tobacco industry, which encourages potential users, especially adolescents, to try tobacco and become long-term consumers.
Evidence-based tobacco-control strategies that are comprehensive, sustained, and support nonsmoking behaviors have been shown to prevent and reduce tobacco use. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control calls on countries to implement scientifically proven measures to reduce tobacco use and its impact. Additional information on World No Tobacco Day 2008 activities is available at http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2008/en/index.html.

World No Tobacco Day News Release