By promoting their products, the giants of these sectors interfere in efforts to prevent and control diseases such as cancer or diabetes, estimates the World Health Organization.
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The tobacco, ultra-processed food, fossil fuel and alcohol industries are responsible for 2.7 million deaths per year in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday June 12, which calls for better regulation. These “four industries kill at least 7 people every day 000 people” across the region, which includes 53 countries and extends to Central Asia, according to regional director Hans Kluge.
“Industry tactics include exploiting vulnerable people through targeted marketing strategies, deceiving consumers and making false claims about the benefits of their products or their environmental friendliness”, he said. These tactics undermine the fight against non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases which cause four out of ten deaths in Europe.
For the WHO, by promoting their products, the giants of tobacco, food, fossil fuels and alcohol interfere in efforts to prevent and control diseases such as cancer or diabetes. The practices of large groups fuel inequalities and recurrences of cancer, chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and diabetes, according to the WHO, and “constitute a major obstacle to prevention policies”.
