World No Tobacco Day 2020: WHO Exposes Industry Tactics Of Targeting Teenagers Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

In the run up to World No Tobacco Day 2020 on May 31, United Nation’s health agency World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken a pledge to help prevent tobacco addiction among teenagers.

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Over the past three months, the entire world is reeling under the coronavirus pandemic which has infected as many as six million people and claimed over 350 thousand lives.  In the COVID-19 pandemic, questions have been asked about clinical outcomes for smokers, and whether they are equally susceptible to infection, and if nicotine has any biological effect on the SAR-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. In the run-up to World No Tobacco Day 2020 on May 31, the United Nation’s health agency World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken a pledge to help prevent tobacco addiction among teenagers. The health agency aims to raise awareness on how the industry tries to manipulate the youth into using deadly products. WHO has observed that nearly nine out of 10 smokers start before age 18 years old. It is worst to realise that even during the pandemic, the tobacco and nicotine industry has been persistent in pushing products that limit people’s ability to fight coronavirus and recover from the disease. WHO noted that amid the ongoing world health crisis, the industries have been labelling smoking e-cigarettes and hookah pipes as “safer” alternatives to conventional cigarettes despite that fact that they are harmful, addictive, and increases the risk of developing heart and lung disease. The WHO also noted that most of the 15,000 flavours on offer – such as bubble-gum and candy - are to attract youngsters who at least double their chance of smoking cigarettes later in life. For the same, WHO has planned a tool kit for school students aged 13-17 to alert them about the tobacco industry tactics used to hook them to addictive products. The tool kit includes classroom activities, an educational video, a myth-buster quiz, and homework assignments for the teenagers and youth. Through these activities in schools, WHO wants to expose tactics such as parties and concerts hosted by the tobacco and related industries, e-cigarette flavours that attract, e-cigarette representatives presenting in schools, and product placement in popular youth streaming shows. The harms of tobacco use are well-established. Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year. Over 40 million young people aged 13-15 have already started to use tobacco. Smoking tobacco is a known risk factor for severe disease and death from many respiratory infections including cardiovascular diseases, lung disorders, cancers, diabetes, and hypertension. Smoking suffocates the lungs and other organs, starving them of the oxygen they need to develop and function properly.