Philip Morris International Inc. CEO, Louis C. Camilleri, told a cancer nurse on Wednesday that quitting is not hard for smokers. He spoke to her during an annual shareholder meeting in New York.

Camilleri, who was a smoker himself, said that there are more ex-smokers compared to current smokers in the city. He said that even if a person is addicted to it, smoking is not hard to quit.

He cited data from statistics and said that smoking lead to the death of 5 million people worldwide annually.

According to World Health Organization, it was disclosed that tobacco products are harmful and addictive because of a substance found in it, Nicotine. Currently, there are more than 1 billion smokers globally.

Medical News TV reported that smoking is responsible for one in five deaths and more than 20% of adults are smokers. The US Public Health Service said that 45% of the smokers in the US try to quit, but some 4% to 7% become successful.

Meanwhile, the news agency reported that despite of less demand of tobacco products, Philip Morris has posted profits by 14.5%. Philip Morris remained the largest cigarette seller across the world.