World Health Organization (WHO) experts warned that 94 percent of people in the world are exposed to tobacco smoke and estimated that there will be eight million people who will die by the year 2030 due to tobacco-related diseases.

“Despite progress in some areas, tobacco use still kills more than 5 million people a year, WHO said. If current trends continue, it could kill more than 8 million people each year by 2030. Of those deaths, 80% will be in low- and middle-income countries.

By the end of the century, one billion could die from tobacco-related causes,” the “WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2009” stated. The report was released in Turkey the other day.

WHO is relentlessly urging smokers to drop the habit and for governments to put in place measures that would curb the smoking incidence in their countries.

The WHO report is the second in a series detailing the extent of the global tobacco epidemic and measures to stop it.

The report tells of “Smoke-free environments” that emphasizes the harmful effects of second hand smoke.

The study named the three cities in the Western Pacific Region where notable progress has been made in terms of implementing smoke-free legislation in indoor settings for public establishments.

These are Sydney and Melbourne in Australia and Hong Kong.

“In the Philippines, smaller cities, such as Makati and Davao City, have been able to enforce 100 percent indoor smoke-free regulations in restaurants and public places. Vietnam has at least seven settings that are smoke free but has yet to legislate a ban on smoking in restaurants, pubs and bars,” WHO said.

The global health body noted China’s difficulty in passing local and national regulations that would result to 100 percent smoke-free public places although the country has implemented a 100 percent smoke-free regulations in all its health facilities that will be seen in 2011.

WHO said there are about 600, 000 premature deaths a year globally and a host of tobacco-related diseases that results to economic losses in the tens of billions of dollars.

“There is no safe level of exposure to second hand tobacco smoke. That's why firm action by governments is needed,” the report said.

“Governments must recognize that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and those of public health,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Governments will need to push harder with more concrete measures if the battle against tobacco use is to be won.”

The WHO official warned that tobacco industries will never stop seeking new individuals to lure into the habit and they are targeting women and young people in low and middle-income countries to become new patrons.

The Western Pacific, where the Philippines belongs, has the greatest number of smokers, the highest rates of male smoking prevalence, and the fastest increase in tobacco uptake by women and young people. One in three cigarettes consumed globally is smoked in the Western Pacific, WHO noted.

About two people in the Western Pacific region die every minute due to a tobacco-related disease.