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Action on Smoking and Health
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Finland and Britain See Sharpest Decline in Smoking Related Deaths [08/07-2]
Excerpts from: Finland and Britain lead world in reduction of smoking deaths
Helsingin Sanomat
[08/06/03]
The number of deaths from diseases related to smoking has declined faster in
Finland and Britain than anywhere else in the world.
This represents a significant turnaround from the 1950s and 1960s, when both
countries' lung cancer figures were among the worst in Europe.
The positive figures were presented on Tuesday by Professor Richard Peto of
Oxford University at a seminar held in connection with the ongoing World Conference
on Smoking or Health in Helsinki.
According to Professor Hakulinen, Finland has sought to reduce smoking by implementing
a versatile tobacco policy involving taxation, education, and legislation. Similar
measures have been enacted in the UK.
Peto says that one third of those dying of smoking-related diseases succumb
to lung cancer. Smoking is also linked with more than 20 other diseases, including
cardiovascular disease and emphysema.
Hakulinen says that the most significant factor in the decrease in lung cancer
deaths has been the reduction in smoking.
There are considerable differences within Europe in smoking-related deaths.
In Hungary and France, smoking deaths are currently at about the same level
that they were in Finland in the 1950s.
Professor Peto says that the problem in France is that the dangers of tobacco
are not taken seriously; professors and doctors smoke just as much as anyone
else.
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