Sussex - Smoking will become the single biggest killer in the developing world ahead of AIDS and traditional illnesses, according to a new British report, writes Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor. A forecast by the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex predicts that tobacco will cause 8.5 million deaths a year in developing countries within 20 years, in addition to 1.5 million in developed countries.
The World Health Organisation estimates that there are more than a billion smokers in the world, the vast majority in Third World countries. The tobacco companies have targeted consumers in these countries even as anti-smoking campaigns reduce markets in the wealthy countries.