2023-05-29 16:27:29
MANILA, (Xinhua) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday urged governments in the Western Pacific region to stop subsidizing tobacco crops and instead encourage sustainable grains that can feed millions of human beings, transferred by means of a statement.
“This is the time to grow food, not tobacco,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO’s acting regional director for the Western Pacific, emphasizing that more than 400 million people in the region use tobacco, of whom 3 million die each year. .
“When governments prioritize business over health, ecosystems are lost, people will be hungry and health will worsen,” he said in the text.
According to the WHO regional office in Manila, more than one million hectares of land in the Western Pacific region is devoted to tobacco cultivation, while millions of people still suffer from food insecurity.
“Imagine we used that million hectares to grow nutritious food. We could nurture millions of people, help children grow and develop, and help adults reach their full potential,” Jakab said.
Meanwhile, growing tobacco exposes farmers and their families to toxic tobacco dust and chemical pesticides. In addition, the environment suffers from deforestation, contamination of water sources and soil degradation, warned the health agency of the United Nations Organization in its latest report entitled “Cultivate food, not tobacco.”
“Trees felled for tobacco cultivation account for 5 percent of global deforestation,” the WHO added.
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