World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan urged the international community to stand fast against what she said was harassment by tobacco companies seeking to reduce the impact of anti-smoking measures, the Associated Press reported.

"Tobacco is the only industry that produces products to make huge profits and at the same time damage the health and kill their consumers,” she reportedly said at a public health meeting in Geneva on Wednesday. "How can we as an international community allow big tobacco to harass countries"?
Australia, Uruguay, Norway and the United States are among countries targeted by the tobacco industry, Chan reportedly said. (pi)