WHO / WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY

STORY: WHO / WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
TRT: 3:00
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 MAY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

28 MAY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Various shots, WHO headquarters exterior
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Today, 44 million children and adolescents smoke. They are between 13 and 15 years old.”

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And these 44 million don't even include those children, adolescents that use e-cigarettes. And that goes to epidemic sizes. In some countries, like in Poland, 23 percent of children and adolescents use e-cigarettes and vaping.”
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The tobacco industry targets our children and adolescents. And half of them will die, that's unacceptable.”
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“They throw parties, they actually use influencers on social media to promote their products. And actually look at the e-cigarettes. There's about 15,000 flavours and many of them are actually targeted at young people and children such as: vanilla ice cream, bubble gum, blueberry. They are targeted towards children and not like severe smokers.”
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“So, there's a whole set of instruments that we're using with Member States. So, to ban tobacco from public places, to not sell it in front of schools or places where children meet, to ban advertising.”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“I have a plea to the entertainment industry: Don't sponsor concert or let concerts be sponsored by tobacco industry. I have a plea to the sports industry: Don't let your football games be sponsored by the tobacco industry. And I have a plea to the schools: Don't let people from the tobacco industry come to your schools to talk to your children.”
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruediger Krech, Director for Health Promotion, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We actually have gathered the world experts in public health to look at all the studies that have been published on this on this issue. And they found that if you're a smoker, you're very likely to be much more harmed by COVID, you develop much more severe symptoms.”
9. Various shots, WHO headquarters exterior

STORYLINE:

To mark World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization today launched a new kit for school students aged 13-17 to alert them to the tobacco industry tactics used to hook them to addictive products.

WHO said the tobacco industry invests more than USD 9 billion every year to advertise its products. Increasingly, it is targeting young people with nicotine and tobacco products in a bid to replace the eight million people that its products kill every year.

This year’s WHO’s World No Tobacco Day campaign focused on protecting children and young people from exploitation by the tobacco and related industry. The toolkit has a set of classroom activities including one that puts the students in the shoes of the tobacco industry to make them aware of how the industry tries to manipulate them into using deadly products. It also includes an educational video, myth-buster quiz, and homework assignments.

WHO’s Director for Health Promotion Ruediger Krech said some 44 million children and adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 smoke. They are between 13 and 15 years old. He said, “And these 44 million don't even include those children, adolescents that use e-cigarettes. And that goes to epidemic sizes. In some countries, like in Poland, 23 percent of children and adolescents use e-cigarettes and vaping.”

Krech half of the children and adolescents “will die” and that is unacceptable. He said tobacco companies throw parties, and “use influencers on social media to promote their products.” He gave the example of e-cigarettes which are available in “about 15,000 flavours and many of them are actually targeted at young people and children such as: vanilla ice cream, bubble gum, blueberry. They are targeted towards children and not like severe smokers.”

The Director for Health Promotion said WHO is calling on countries to “ban tobacco from public places, to not sell it in front of schools or places where children meet, [and] to ban advertising.”

Krech said, “I have a plea to the entertainment industry: Don't sponsor concert or let concerts be sponsored by tobacco industry. I have a plea to the sports industry: Don't let your football games be sponsored by the tobacco industry. And I have a plea to the schools: Don't let people from the tobacco industry come to your schools to talk to your children.”

Krech noted that studies also indicated that smokers were more likely to “develop much more severe symptoms” if they are infected with COVID-19.

To reach young people WHO also launched the #TobaccoExposed challenge on TikTok and welcomed social media partners like Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok to amplify messages.