WHO advises Asian countries to stop subsidising tobacco farms and grow rice and vegetables instead. Asian countries devote more than a million hectares to tobacco cultivation.
Chronic obstructive lung disease is mainly due to environmental causes, but in poor Asian countries, smoking and indoor pollution from cooking are the leading causes.
A survey of advertising and PR executives in Australia finds discomfort among young people asked to create campaigns for big polluters. But how pervasive are these views elsewhere in a region still heavily dependent on fossil fuels?