WHO condemns tobacco growing in countries where people are dying of hunger

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that more than three million hectares of land are being used for growing tobacco in more than 120 countries, including countries where people are dying of hunger.

The data in the press release comes ahead of World No Tobacco Day next Wednesday and is outlined in the Grow Food Not Tobacco report released today, which highlights the harmful effects of tobacco. cultivation and the benefits of “more sustainable crops for farmers, communities, the economy and the environment”.

According to the WHO report, Brazil and Mozambique are among the countries that grow the most tobacco.

According to the UN agency, more than 300 million people in the world are “facing acute food insecurity”, with more than three million hectares of land in more than 120 countries being used for “growing deadly tobacco”, including in “countries where people are starving”.

The latest WHO data show that tobacco growing areas in Africa are expanding, increasing by almost 20% between 2005 and 2020.

The Grow Food, Not Tobacco report highlights that Brazil, China and India account for more than half (over 55%) of global tobacco cultivation. The top ten producing countries include Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, Turkey, Tanzania, the USA and Zimbabwe.

The WHO notes that growing tobacco causes disease among farmers and that more than a million children working on plantations are “deprived of the opportunity to learn.”

“Tobacco poses a serious threat not only to food security, but also to health in general, including the health of tobacco farmers. Farmers exposed to pesticides, tobacco smoke [no processo de cura das folhas] and as much nicotine as found in 50 cigarettes,” said WHO Director of Health Promotion Rüdiger Kretsch, quoted in the statement, warning of health concerns such as chronic lung disease and nicotine poisoning.

Faced with the detrimental effects of tobacco use, the World Health Organization is calling on governments to stop subsidizing the plant and support more sustainable crops that “could feed millions” of people.

“Tobacco is responsible for eight million deaths a year. However, governments around the world are spending millions to support tobacco plantations,” condemned WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, quoted in the same statement, stressing that by choosing to grow food, tobacco instead, the priority is health, ecosystem conservation and strengthening “food security for all.”