Industry causes a quarter of deaths

Tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and fossil fuels kill 2.7 million people a year in Europe. The World Health Organization (WHO) said powerful industries were driving ill-health and premature death by using “misleading” marketing and interfering in governments’ efforts to prevent killer diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The new report calculates that tobacco, fossil fuels, UPFs and alcohol are responsible for more than 7,400 deaths every day across Europe’s 53 states. Overall the four industries cause an estimated 2.7 million deaths annually in Europe, about a quarter (24.5%) of all mortality.

The findings amount to an unprecedented attack on the huge damage major corporations and their products are inflicting on human health. The report describes how “big industry” uses overt and covert methods to boost their profits by delaying and derailing policies to improve population health.

“A small number of transnational corporations … wield significant power over the political and legal contexts in which they operate, and obstruct public interest regulations which could impact their profit margins,” the WHO said.

“Industry tactics include exploitation of vulnerable people through targeted marketing strategies, misleading consumers, and making false claims about the benefits of their products or their environmental credentials.”

The tactics deployed by “major commercial industries” are undermining measures to reduce smoking, drinking and obesity, which are the biggest causes of avoidable ill-heath.

The WHO estimates that tobacco accounts for more than 1 million deaths a year, 10% of all deaths in Europe. Nearly 600,000 deaths are caused each year by fossil fuels (5% of all deaths), while alcohol causes more than 400,000 deaths a year. And more than 350,000 people die each year from consuming too much processed meat, sugary drinks and fatty, salty food.

SOURCE: based on https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/12/tobacco-alcohol…