10 Persons Die Every Hour in PHL Due to Smoking — DOH

(PNA) — The Department of Health (DOH) reported that 10 persons die every hour or 240 deaths per day in the Philippines due to smoking and its complications while 600,000 die in the ASEAN each year from exposure to second hand smoke.

Dr. Ivanhoe Escartin of DOH said that 17.3 million of the total population of the country are smokers while 48 percent are males and nine percent are females. However, the number of female smokers in the country is high in the ASEAN.

The report also showed that around 64 percent of the youth are exposed to SHS in public places. Among the complications due to smoking are cancer and other chronic diseases.

Reporting at the 3rd Smoke-free Cities ASEAN Regional Workshop in Iloilo City on Thursday the DOH official warned that secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) kills and causes serious illness in the human body.

Globally, tobacco use kills nearly six million people annually and by the year 2013, 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths will occur in developing countries including many Asia nations. (PNA) CTB/LCP/VLO