By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer
GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a decade of falling tobacco prices in poor countries has seriously affected the health of their populations.
"Tobacco products in developing countries are cheaper now than they were a decade ago, sometimes even cheaper than bread or rice," said WHO in a statement.
The U.N. health agency said that "cheaper tobacco products will only fuel the tobacco epidemic further, leading to more consumption, disease and death in the future."
WHO says that smoking and tobacco related disease kills 4 million people per year worldwide. Deaths are expected to reach 10 million per year by 2030, with 70 percent of them in developing countries.