The chief of the World Health Organization denounced the tobacco industry Sunday for maneuvering to undermine global efforts to fight smoking and protect the public health.

Director-general Margaret Chan called for action by governments, civil societies and individuals against tobacco companies which have been lobbying consumer groups and hiding the facts that their products have taken millions of lives.

“This is the industry that you should never trust because it has been hiding scientific information that tobacco kills people,” she told reporters in Seoul.

Chan is currently in Seoul to host the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The WHO FCTC is the first global treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO and provides a new legal dimension for international health cooperation.

Tobacco kills more than 6 million people a year, more than the combined number of people who die from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, according to WHO reports.

“It contributes to many serious diseases, stroke, heart diseases and all kinds of cancers. It contains toxic substances that are unimaginable. But why are we allowing the tobacco products when medicines that are produced to cure people from diseases are being regulated?” she said.

While the smoking rate in general is decreasing, the number of young smokers, particularly women, is on rise and they are now being targeted by the tobacco industry. The government needs to enact all possible measures to protect the young population, the source of any country’s economic drive, Chan said.

“The governments should ban smoking in public places. Especially for young people, governments need to impose a comprehensive ban on tobacco ads and other actions to counteract the tobacco industry’s arguments.”

The WHO head stressed that the international meeting in Seoul would leave a “very strong legacy to step up control measures.” As a member of WHO FCTC, the Korean government has been expanding smoking zones and improving laws and regulations to reduce tobacco consumption. The government plans to amend the National Health Promotion Act to put visual warnings on cigarette packages, and ban misleading terms such as “mild” and “light.” Non-smoking areas both in and outdoors have been expanded.

Chan, however, urged the Korean government to increase the tobacco tax, adding that it is the most efficient tool for curbing tobacco consumption.

“Korea has more room to increase the tobacco tax. The anxiety is there but real tangible impact by increasing tobacco tax is very minimal. There are already many countries in this region and in the world that increased tobacco tax to as high as 60-70 percent,” she said.

The price of tobacco in Korea is far lower than in other OECD member countries like Australia, whose heavier tobacco tax leads cigarette products to be sold at A$17.

Meanwhile, representatives of governments on Monday adopted a landmark protocol aimed at eliminating illicit trade in tobacco products. The protocol will allow governments and international communities to implement a “track and trace” system to investigate suspicious cigarette production and distribution channels. Smuggling, illicit manufacturing and counterfeiting are blamed for the rise in smoking among young people and generating a huge fiscal loss to governments.

Member parties of the WHO FCTC are expected to bring policy recommendations on raising taxes on tobacco products and delisting cigarettes from duty-free shops. Representatives will also discuss alternatives to tobacco growing, and smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes.

Experts participating in the meeting said smoking has killed more than 62 million people since 1999 and left enormous social costs. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the social and economic cost in Korea linked to smoking, including medical expenses, lost income and the impact of second-hand smoke, was estimated at $5.1 billion as of 2007.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)