Tobacco: Gateway to Health Diseases
Don’t Let Tobacco Take Your Breath Away

Harpreet kaur Ghotra^*

Corresponding Author: Harpreet kaur Ghotra,

Copy Right: © 2022 Harpreet kaur Ghotra, This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received Date: July 28, 2022

Published Date: January 17, 2023

Introduction

• Every year, on 31 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).

This is an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.

Review of Literature

• Mong C, Garon E, Fuller C. et al.  High Prevalence of Lung Cancer in a Surgical Cohort of Lung Cancer Patients a Decade after   Smoking Cessation. Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 2011; 6:19.
• National Cancer Institute. Harms of Cigarette Smoking and Health Benefits of Quitting.  Updated 12/02/14. 
• National Library of Medicine, Report on Smoking and Health.  Profiles in Science. The Reports of the Surgeon General. 1964
• Winkler V, Ng N, Tesfaye F, Becher H.  Predicting Lung Cancer Deaths from Smoking Prevalence Data. Lung Cancer. 2011; 74(2):170-7.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Among Adults—United States, 2011.  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2012;61(46):938–43

What is Tobacco ?

Tobacco is dried leaves of tobacco plants.

Tobacco plants growing in a field in Intercourse, Pennsylvania, 2006

Tobacco in India

• There are approximately 120 million smokers in India.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India is home to 12% of the world’s smokers. More than 10 million people die every year due to tobacco related illnesses.
• As of 2015, the number of men smoking tobacco in India rose to 108 million, an increase of 36%, between 1998 and 2015.

Tobacco Companies in India

India is the largest producer and exporter of tobacco in the world. Production reaches 700 million kilograms annually.

• Azad Bidi.
• Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) Limited.
• Kanhayya Tobacco Co. Ltd.
• Kothari Products Limited (KPL)
• M.R Tobacco Pvt Ltd.
• Sapna Enterprises.
• Sri Jayalakshmi Tobacco Co Ltd.
• Tej Ram Dharam Paul.

Ranking of India

Tobacco production                           : Third

Consumption of tobacco                   : Third

Exporter of tobacco products           : Sixth

Non smokers are at Risk of Passive Smoking

Youth are of Special Concern

• New, young and potentially life long tobacco users are soft targets for tobacco industries.
• Most people start smoking before the age of 18 years
• One fourth of these, use tobacco before 10 years.
• Teens who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine. 

WHO Highlights 

In 2017, tobacco killed 3.3 million users and people exposed to second-hand smoke from lung-related conditions, including:

• 1.5 million people dying from chronic respiratory diseases.
• 1.2 million deaths from cancer (tracheal, bronchus and lung).
• 600 000 deaths from respiratory infections and tuberculosis.

More than 60 000 children aged under 5 die of lower respiratory infections caused by second-hand smoke. Those who live on into adulthood are more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) later in life.

Lung Cancer

• About 80% of lung cancer cases are due to smoking- smokers are at least 10 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers.
• It is also the commonest in men in India accounting for 11.3% of all new cancers and also is the most common cause of cancer death.

Chronic Respiratory Disease

• Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd).
• The risk of developing copd is particularly high among individuals who start smoking at a young age, as tobacco smoke significantly slows lung development.
• Smoking accounts for as many as 8 out of 10 copd-related deaths³ and 38% of the nearly 16 million u.s. Adults diagnosed with copd report being current smokers.⁵

TUBERCULOSIS

• Tuberculosis (TB) damages the lungs and reduces lung function, which is further exacerbated by tobacco smoking.
• About one quarter of the world’s population has latent TB, placing them at risk of developing the active disease.
• People who smoke are twice as likely to fall ill with TB.

References

1. WHO highlights huge scale of tobacco-related lung disease deaths, World No Tobacco Day 2019: Don’t let tobacco take your breath away, 29 May 2019 News release, Geneva
2. Effects of Tobacco on Health, PUBLISHED DATE : Apr 30, 2015, PUBLISHED BY : NHP CC DC, CREATED / VALIDATED BY : NHP Admin, LAST UPDATED BY : Oct 13, 2015
3. Smoking and Lung Cancer    By Lynne Eldridge, MD , Updated April 05, 2018
4. Smoking and COPD  :
5. Content source: Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention