WHO Report: Smoking and Drinking Cause Millions of Deaths
Worldwide Almost six million people die from tobacco use and 2.5
million from harmful use of alcohol each year worldwide, the
World Health Organization (WHO) reports. The WHO report on non-
communicable diseases—including diabetes, cancer and respiratory
and heart diseases—says that a large percentage of these
conditions could be prevented by reducing tobacco and alcohol
use, eating a healthier diet and exercising more. According to
Reuters, the report explains that tobacco is expected to kill
7.5 million people worldwide by 2020, accounting for 10 percent
of all deaths. Smoking causes an estimated 71 percent of lung
cancers, 42 percent of chronic respiratory disease and almost 10
percent of cardiovascular disease, the report states. Alcohol-
related deaths account for 3.8 percent of all deaths worldwide,
according to the report. More than half of these deaths occur
from non-communicable diseases including cancer, heart disease
and liver cirrhosis. To re