John R. Seffrin, PhD, national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, at Stanford University on May 15
John R. Seffrin, PhD, national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, gave a lecture at Stanford University’s School of Medicine on May 15 in which he described disturbing signs of a growing global tobacco pandemic and called on policy-makers and nongovernmental organizations to act now to avert the pandemic. Dr. Seffrin, speaking to an audience of representatives from Stanford and the American Cancer Society, explained that without intervention, more than one billion people would be killed by tobacco use in this century, becoming the leading cause of death worldwide. He stressed that the greatest death rates from tobacco use would occur in developing countries like China and India, and that those countries would bear the harshest political, economic, and social consequences associated with tobacco-related illnesses – consequences for which many of these countries, with inadequate health care infrastructures, are ill-prepared to handle. Dr. Seffrin highlighted the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first public health treaty, now ratified by more than 150 countries, and its “MPOWER” model as effective strategies for global tobacco control. The acronym MPOWER represents the first letter of each of the six policies within the model that can counter the tobacco pandemic: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; protect people from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit tobacco use; warn about the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and raise taxes on tobacco.
