Snuff epidemic will kill nearly six million people this year, including about 600,000 non-smokers will be exposed to smoke, said today the World Health Organization (WHO) to the upcoming celebration of World No Snuff.

“If no additional measures are taken, in 2030 the snuff can cause death of 8 million people a year,” said Armando Peruga director Snuff Free Initiative of WHO.

Therefore, the health organization decided to devote this year’s Day Without Snuff, held on 31 May, the Framework Convention for the Control of Snuff, it considers the best means to stop a habit that killed 100 million people in the twentieth century. A figure that could reach one million in the XXI century to follow the current trend, WHO highlights.

The Convention was adopted in 2003 and came into force in 2005 and since then 173 WHO member states have joined as parties.

“The snuff is one of the main drivers of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, cancer or emphysema, which cause 63 percent of all deaths worldwide,” he recalled Peruga.

The obligations assumed by States Parties of the Framework Convention are to protect public health policies the interests of the tobacco industry, take measures relating to pricing and taxation to reduce the demand for snuff and protect people against smoke exposure to snuff.

Only 20 WHO Member States have not joined the Framework Convention, including the United States, Switzerland, Argentina and Indonesia.