Public health researchers ask that efforts be made to phase out the sale of the tobacco over the next 3 decades

Mar 13, 2015 12:44 GMT  ·  By

Merely 3 decades from now, we might find ourselves living in a very different world. Well, as long as University of Auckland researchers Robert Beaglehole and Ruth Bonita have their way and convince governments to phase out the sale of tobacco.

These scientists, together with their colleagues, argue that, given the right political support and well-documented action against companies in the tobacco industry, we could be living in a non-smoking, tobacco-free world by 2040, maybe even sooner.

Mind you, the researchers don't want to make tobacco illegal or anything of the sorts. Instead, they want to implement measures intended to eliminate smoking almost entirely, Science Daily informs. More precisely, they dream of a world where less than 5% of adults use tobacco.

“A world where tobacco is out of sight, out of mind, and out of fashion - yet not prohibited - is achievable in less than three decades from now, but only with full commitment from governments, international agencies, such as UN and WHO, and civil society,” says Robert Beaglehole.

To rid the world of tobacco, the public health researchers recommend banning all forms of advertising, promotion or sponsorship, increasing taxes and continuing to display warning on cigarette packaging. Efforts should also be made to better protect people against secondhand smoke.

The reason the University of Auckland specialists and fellow researchers want the sale of tobacco phased out by the year 2040 is that, according to recent health reports, smoking stands to claim a whopping 1 billion lives by the end of the century.

Apart from causing lung cancer, smoking has been shown to make people more vulnerable to heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and other health trouble. In fact, this habit is among the world's leading preventable causes of premature death.