Educational and grassroots activities will be crucial if Japan is to successfully reduce the nation's relatively high number of smokers and incidence of lung cancer -- one of the leading causes of death in this country, said scientist and tobacco educator Jeffrey Wigand.
"We all must know that the tobacco industry makes profits by using nicotine addiction, lying to the public to hide the negative effects of its products and especially targeting children," he told The Japan Times on Wednesday.
Wigand came to prominence in 1995 when he became the highest-ranking former tobacco executive to blow the whistle on nearly 50 years of industry lies. His story was chronicled in the movie "The Insider."