Tobacco companies are targeting half a billion young people in the Asia-Pacific region by linking smoking to glamorous and attractive lifestyles, the U.N. World Health Organization said Friday.
In a statement marking World No Tobacco Day on Saturday, WHO said the tobacco industry is taking advantage of young people's vulnerability to advertising and influence.
"The bombardment of messages through billboards, newspapers, magazines, radio and television ads, as well as sports and fashion sponsorships and other ploys, are meant to deceive young people into trying their first stick," Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said in the statement.
Widespread tobacco advertising makes smoking appear normal and makes it hard for young people to understand that it can kill, the statement said.
WHO called on policy-makers to support a total ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global tobacco control agreement.
It said research has shown that only total bans can be successful because partial bans allow companies to shift their resources to other promotional methods.
Omi said the tobacco industry's focus on young females is a challenge that has to be dealt with urgently.
WHO also announced it was honoring a 15-year-old Japanese boy for his efforts to keep the streets of his central Japan city smoke-free.
Yuhta Ohishi was ostracized by his community when he started his campaign at the age of 10 after developing severe asthma from secondhand smoke in his neighborhood in Shizouka city.
He petitioned city officials to encourage them to regulate smoking in public places. Smoking was eventually banned in Shizuoka's streets, WHO said.
"Yuhta is an inspiration to young people as well as to adults," Omi said.
Ohishi will receive awards at a ceremony in Manila later Friday.
