"Big Tobacco Sets Its Sights on Africa"

While smoking is being successfully discouraged in developed Western nations, "elsewhere smoking is exploding. In China, 350 million adults are hooked on tobacco, which means the country has more smokers than the U.S. has people. Smoking rates in Indonesia have quintupled since 1970. In Russia, boys as young as 10 start lighting up. This year, tobacco companies will produce more than 5 trillion cigarettes -- or 830 for every person on the planet.

It's in Africa, however, that the battle for the hearts, minds and lungs of new smokers is being waged most aggressively -- and Nigeria offers a telling look at how the fight is unfolding."

Jeffrey Kluger reports in TIME July 24, 2009.

Source: TIME, 07/29/2009