WHO blames 4 main industries for 2.7 million deaths per year in Europe, ET HealthWorld

Copenhagen: The WHO on Wednesday blamed four major industries – tobacco, ultra-processed foods (UPF), fossil fuels and alcohol – for 2.7 million deaths a year in Europe, accusing them of obstructing public policies that could hurt their profits.

These “four industries kill at least 7,000 people every day in our region,” Hans Kluge, director of the World Health Organization’s European region, which covers 53 countries including Central Asia, said in a statement.

The consolidation of these industries into a small number of multinational corporations “has enabled them to exercise significant power over the political and legal context in which they operate and to obstruct public interest regulation that could affect their profit margins,” the WHO said in a report.

Industry tactics included exploiting vulnerable people through targeted marketing strategies, misleading consumers and making false claims about the benefits of their products or their environmental credentials, she argued.

“Such tactics threaten the public health gains made over the last century and prevent countries from achieving health goals,” he added.

According to WHO, industry lobbying hinders efforts to fight non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

According to the WHO, almost 60 percent of adults and one third of children in Europe are overweight or obese.

The latest data from 2017 showed that one in five deaths in Europe related to cardiovascular disease and cancer was the result of unhealthy eating habits.

WHO urged countries to counter by enforcing stricter regulations on the marketing of unhealthy products, monopolistic practices and lobbying.

“People must always come before profit,” Kluge said.

The report ‘Commercial determinants of non-communicable diseases in the WHO European region’ is available on the WHO website.