Cultivating tobacco is a threat to the environment as it affects the water, soil, farmers and its use affects the city streets, tourist places, toxic waste in the drains affecting the oceans.
Tobacco is not only harmful to humans but also to the planet and on World No Tobacco Day on May 31st it is important that the cultivation of tobacco must also stop to reduce its use.
Tobacco farming accounts for 5 percent of deforestation. Dr Kiran Madhla, Head of the department of Anaesthesia, Government Medical College at Nizamabad says, “The waste from cartons and boxes used for distribution and packing of tobacco products in 2021 produced waste of at least 2 million tonnes. There are 7000 chemicals that are discharged in the sewage system due to the tobacco cultivation and also its use. Of these 70 are found to be the reason for cancer.”
World Health Organization has recorded that 25 percent of the farmers are affected with nicotine poisoning during the cultivation of the crop.
Despite this the cultivation and use of tobacco in the low income countries has not decreased as required. One in four smokers are in the low-income countries.
- India -Tobacco Use – There are 267 million users of tobacco in India and of them 29 percent are adults. Among adults (15 and above) of the population currently uses tobacco products (men 42.4%; women 14.2%).
- Lung cancer is becoming a major healthcare problem in India and it is predicted that there will be more than 1 lakh new lung cancer cases in the next 5 years in India
- In males, the most common cancer is mouth cancer affecting 13.3 per cent, followed by lung cancer affecting 10.9 per cent of the population.
Dr. Palanki Satya Dattatreya, Director & Chief of Medical Oncology Services at Renova Soumya Cancer Centre, Secunderabad says, “ India is among countries with lowest quit rates for smoking. Quitting early not only lowers your risk of cancer development, also lowers your risk of diabetes, helps your blood vessels work better, and helps your heart and lungs. It can add as much as 10 years to your life, compared to if you continued to smoke. Quitting while you’re younger can reduce your health risks more (for example, quitting before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%).”
Nicotine addiction is most difficult to quit as it affects the central nervous system. For this reason, “catching them young” to quit is the mantra of health experts.