Tobacco is a Fashionable way to Die; Don’t Waste your Life!

Muniba Chaudhary
6 min readJul 27, 2021

According to World Health Organization (WHO), Low- and middle-income nations account for more than 80% of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco consumers and it kills about 8 million people annually. Only one out of every three countries, accounting for 38% of the global population, monitors tobacco use by repeating nationally representative youth and adult surveys at least once every five years.

What is tobacco?

Tobacco is the popular name for the Nicotiana tabacum plant and, to a lesser extent, Aztec tobacco (N. rustica), as well as the cured leaf that is used for smoking, chewing, snuffing, and nicotine extraction after age and processing in various ways. Flowering tobaccos are a collection of species in the genus Nicotiana that are planted as ornamentals. From cultivation to curing and grading, this article covers all aspects of commercial tobacco growing.

According to a study by James Edward McMurtery tobacco is grown all throughout the world, despite its tropical origins. Cultivated tobacco (N. tabacum) demands an ember period of 100 to 130 days from sowing to ground bloom. Aztec tobacco (N. rustica) grows faster and is much stronger than developed tobacco. It is grown in India, Vietnam, and a few Transcaucasia nations.

Tobacco and environment:

Tobacco products have a harmful impact on our environment. Cigarette butts are harmful waste as well as a nuisance. They contain chemicals that pollute our waterways and ground soil, as well as causing harm to wildlife. Smoked cigarettes carelessly tossed around can cause fires, resulting in injuries and property damage. Cleaning up cigarette trash is also prohibitively expensive, and the problem is deteriorating year after year.

A study of the impact of roadside garbage on soil discovered that hydrocarbon levels in the soil followed the same patterns as strewn cigarette butts. This suggests that toxins from cigarette butts had infiltrated into the soil. Some hydrocarbons can cause cancer.

Toxic chemicals from cigarette remains impact animals and plants that come into touch with or absorb them. Tobacco is a key element in cigarette manufacture, as well as the bulk of it is cultivated in tropical rainforests. As an outcome, substantial deforestation has occurred in the areas where it is established. Based to one publication, a cigarette manufacturing plant uses about 4 miles of paper each hour to roll and pack cigarettes, meaning that one tree is chopped down for every 300 cigarettes manufactured. Additionally, in order to build a fire for drying the leaves, many tobacco-producing nations must consume a considerable amount of wood.

Tobacco production, maturing, and shipping all require the use of a large number of chemical and other hazardous substance, the manufacturing process produces a lot of waste, including pesticides and fertilizers that are hazardous. Cigarette manufacturing and smoking emit massive amounts of toxins into the atmosphere. Secondhand smoking pollutes the air directly, and the manufacturing process releases toxins into the atmosphere in a variety of ways. It all starts on the tobacco farms, where the machines emit greenhouse gases as a result of the fossil fuels burned to generate electricity.

Second-hand smoke contains carbon dioxide, methane, and other toxic compounds, all of which contribute to air pollution. Although methane and carbon dioxide do not kill smokers, they do contribute to pollution in the atmosphere. Each year, smoking releases roughly 2.6 billion kilograms of CO2 and 5.2 billion kilos of methane into the environment. This illustrates how smoking adds to climate change on its own. As previously mentioned, secondhand smoking exposes other people and animals to indirect health concerns such as cancer.

Effects of tobacco on health:

Photo by Farzad Sedaghat

Cigarettes contain nicotine, which makes them addictive, and smoking causes cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and a variety of other illnesses. Use of tobacco will end one, but it will also cause you to suffer from a variety of ailments and health concerns. Here are a few of the most heinous ailments brought on by smoking.

· Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

· Lung cancer.

· Stroke.

· Heart disease.

· Reproductive effects in women.

· Asthma.

· Premature babies with low weight.

· Diabetes.

· Blindness, Cataracts and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

How to quit smoking?

You must not only change your behavior and live with the withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking, but you must also find new ways to control your moods. You may break free from nicotine addiction and kick the habit for good if you follow the appropriate strategy. According to an article you can start planning to quit tobacco use by START plan:

S = Set a quit date.

Choose a day within the following two weeks so you can prepare without losing your motivation to quit. If you smoke mostly at work, give yourself a few days to acclimate.

T = Tell family, friends, and co-workers that you plan to quit.

Tell your friends and family about your plan to quit smoking and ask for their help and encouragement. Find a quit buddy who is also trying to quit smoking. You can support each other during difficult times.

A = Anticipate and plan for the challenges you’ll face while quitting.

The majority of those who re-start smoking do it within the first three months. You can make it easier on yourself by anticipating frequent problems like nicotine withdrawal and cigarette cravings.

R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car, and work.

All of your cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, and matches should be thrown away. Anything that smells like smoke should be washed and freshened. Your automobile should be shampooed, your drapes and carpet should be cleaned, and your furniture should be steam cleaned.

T = Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit.

To aid with withdrawal symptoms, your doctor may prescribe medicine. If you can’t see a doctor, several over-the-counter medications, such as nicotine patches, lozenges, and gum, are available at your local drugstore.

Conclusion:

To stop young people from taking up smoking, it is critical to provide more smoke-free public spaces and raise the price of cigarettes, reducing morbidity and mortality from smoking in 20 years and beyond.

Smoking cessation is now achievable because to all of the scientific breakthroughs that strive to make it easier for you, because, as Brooke Shields famously remarked, “Smoking kills.” You’ve lost a very essential portion of your life if you’re killed.” I hope this blog will help you in any way.

Thank you!

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