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Message: [QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 26087, member: 2262"] The WHO FCTC helps people stay healthy by making rules about smoking. Kenya joined this agreement in 2004. The rules tell companies they must put big pictures on cigarette boxes showing how smoking hurts people. The rules also say people cannot smoke inside buildings and make cigarettes cost more money. Dr. Tedros says tobacco makes many people sick. He wants all countries to follow these rules. Before these rules, more people smoked cigarettes. After twenty years of these rules, fewer people smoke. This saves many lives. Many countries make companies put warning pictures on cigarette boxes. Some countries do not let companies make cigarette boxes look pretty. These plain boxes help people remember smoking is bad for them. Many places do not let people smoke inside buildings. This keeps the air clean for everyone. The tobacco companies spend lots of money trying to make people buy cigarettes. They even try to stop countries from making these health rules. Dr. Adriana says these companies only care about making money, not about keeping people healthy. Smoking causes many health problems. Families spend a lot of money on doctor visits when someone gets sick from smoking. Smokers often have less food than people who do not smoke. Growing tobacco plants uses land that could grow food instead. Tobacco hurts our planet. The plants need lots of water to grow. People throw away plastic cigarette ends that stay on the ground for many years. These small pieces hurt animals and make our water dirty. Dr. Blanco Marquizo says we have done good work, but we need to do more. The tobacco companies still hurt millions of people every year. She wants countries to charge more taxes on cigarettes, ban smoking in public places, and stop companies from making ads about tobacco. Dr. Reina Roa leads the group that runs the WHO FCTC. She says this agreement helps save many lives. Countries use these rules to protect their people from the dangers of tobacco. She feels happy about all the good work done in the past twenty years. [/QUOTE]

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