Resources For

Health Harms

This section provides everything you need to effectively communicate all of the negative impacts of tobacco, showing how it’s deteriorating our economies and our health. Our resources are organized into each of the following message sections:

Core Messages

For decades, tobacco companies have taken advantage of natural disasters and emergencies to build goodwill among the public and policymakers. These efforts are nothing more than a smokescreen to continue business as usual, which is to sell deadly tobacco products that kill more than eight million people worldwide each year.

We urge all smokers and e-cigarette users to make every effort to quit.

WHO advises that countries which have not banned e-cigarettes should regulate them as harmful products.

The global tobacco control community stands ready to support policymakers in all efforts to improve public health.

Tobacco use creates both health and economic burdens and is the leading preventable risk factor for non-communicable disease and death.

Ultimately, reducing and preventing tobacco use will improve individual health, increase household spending on food and education, and improve economic productivity.

The devastating harm to societies and families caused by tobacco-related death and disease greatly outweighs Big Tobacco’s philanthropy or sponsorship of social causes.

Tobacco consumption negatively impacts those living in poverty: any tobacco industry contributions or programs will not alleviate poverty, environmental, or health issues and will likely make them worse.

Non-communicable diseases burden health systems, reduce productivity, and can cause poverty.

Tobacco use is the number one preventable risk factor for non-communicable diseases, which are the leading causes of death in the world.

Tackling the non-communicable diseases epidemic through the full implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is both cost-effective and feasible.

Secondhand smoke is a well documented cause of death and disease. There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure.

Pictorial health warning labels communicate the risks of tobacco use.

Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke are a leading cause of death for women.

Because the prevalence of smoking is much higher in men than in women, secondhand smoke disproportionately harms women.