Toward a comprehensive strategy for reducing the health burden of tobacco.

In the absence of concerted worldwide action, the annual death toll from tobacco may reach 10 million by the middle of the next century. Smoking cessation approaches represent an important, but limited, means of reducing this death toll. Needed are co-ordinated strategies that address all facets of the tobacco issue. Especially important are advocacy campaigns targeting the tobacco industry and its supporters. Just as the Broad Street pump was isolated as the source of a cholera epidemic, the tobacco industry must be isolated as the source of a far greater epidemic.