Smoking deaths could hit 1 billion
10/24/01
HALIFAX -- Unless dramatic action is taken, smoking will kill more than a billion people worldwide in the 21st century -- 10 times the number who died in the 20th century -- a cardiology researcher warns.
Citing Oxford University research, Dr. Salim Yusuf, director of the Population Health Institute at McMaster University said yesterday that if half the world's adults smoking today quit, about 30 million deaths by 2025 would be prevented, 150 million by 2050.
There are about 1.15 billion smokers worldwide. About 943 million smokers live in developing countries.
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