RESUMO
This article is based on a lecture delivered to the International Consensus on COPD meeting in London 2007. It describes man use of tobacco, early warnings from history alongside the rise of the tobacco industry and increasing use of the cigarette. It briefly describes the current epidemiology of smoking before describing in detail how Governments can coordinate tobacco control both through International co-operation and by effective Internal policy within their own borders. It then describes what Community strategies are most effective in reducing smoking uptake and prevalence before describing what services are most effective at helping individual smokers quit, especially those attending hospitals usually with illnesses caused or made worse by smoking. Only by efforts from international treaties to individual counseling can we reduce the devastation caused by this preventable lifestyle