In a report released today, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls tobacco use “a global epidemic that is ravaging entire countries and regions,” with the greatest toll falling on the most vulnerable. “Tobacco use remains the leading global cause of preventable death. It kills nearly six million people each year from cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, childhood illnesses and other causes,” the document states, noting that tobacco use also costs the world trillions of dollars each year in health care costs. In the report, released ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, WHO and the global tobacco industry watchdog STOP highlight how the tobacco and nicotine industries design products, market them and work to shape policy environments that promote their use. “Unmasking the tobacco industry’s play book for addicting the next generation: how the tobacco industry targets young people” was the title of a briefing given to reporters today by WHO experts. Among other things, the briefing focused on tobacco use among the millions of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15, as well as the rate at which e-cigarettes are being used by youth compared with adults in several countries. Tactics to get young people hooked include products with a wide variety of flavors and advertising that experts say is not aimed at adults. WHO is calling on governments to take action to curb tobacco use, such as raising taxes on tobacco, since the industry continues to push its products and pay fines. WHO member states created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw attention to “the tobacco epidemic” and the death and disease it causes. “Tobacco use could kill up to one billion people this century unless urgent action is taken,” the experts warn in the report. Tobacco addiction is engineered through carefully calculated formulas “of more than a thousand chemicals and other ingredients,” the experts note, warning that tobacco kills up to half of its regular users. Read Also: Spain: Millions of cigarettes and tons of tobacco leaves seized (Portuguese version)