Smoking kills 14,000 every year

Around 14,000 people succumb to smoking-related diseases in Austria each year, health experts have said on yesterday’s (Tues) World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).

The World Health Organization (WHO) explained around 5.5 million people die from such causes all over the world a year. The international institution made aware of the life-threatening aspects of passive smoking as it vowed to continue campaigning for a smoke-free lifestyle.

Around 2.3 million of the 8.5 million people living in Austria smoke on a regular basis, according to statistics. Nearly one in three Austrian men and more than four out of 10 Austrian women are smokers. Eurobarometer, the European Commission’s (EC) research agency, said Austrians’ daily dose is an average 18 cigarettes, while the average smoker in the European Union’s (EU) 27 member countries consumes ‘only’ 14 cigarettes a day.

Leading cigarette manufacturers made clear recently they would increase their consumer prices a second time within months in the second half of this year. The industry’s announcement came as a reaction to a tax increase instituted by the federal government coalition of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP). The average price for one packet of cigarettes increased by 20 Eurocents at the beginning of this year compared to January 2010.

Source: http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2011-06-01/7762/Smoking_kills_14,000_every_year

Smoking curbs: The global picture
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3758707.stm