According to the world health organization (2019), “Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while approximately 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” That means around 20,000 people are dying as a result of diseases caused by tobacco production and consumption every day. Tobacco is one of the highly grown plants in the world, as it is the chief ingredient of cigarettes, pipes such as shishas and dukkha, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snus, and snuff. These listed products which are forms of tobacco have been used as the daily routine of many people. This is due to its key component which is called nicotine. Nicotine is a chemical that gives a pleasant feeling only for a short period. It is believed that nicotine, which is a key component of tobacco, is the one that is causing people to be attracted by these harmful additives. Myers (2019) claims that every day 80,000 to 100,000 people become addicted. Taking tobacco is seen by people as a remedy for a person having temporary stress as it gives good feelings for a short time, due to the presence of nicotine. Moreover, the majority of people that start taking tobacco in the form of smoking are at the age below 20, as they are influenced by peer pressure. According to Laporte (2013), approximately 7.44 million metric tons of tobacco leaf was produced in 2013. This amount after being processed was taken nearly by one billion people in different forms mostly by smoking (Miller, 2017). These high rates of production and consumption of tobacco cause harm to the producers, users and the environment. Thus, the world health organization, collaboratively with all of the governments in the world should work on diminishing the number of tobacco products into lowest possible levels, and consumers have to reduce the consumption rate of tobacco in different forms as it has numerous negative impacts on the environment, human beings as well as on the economy.
The first reason that tobacco production and consumption must be reduced is its negative effects on the environment. As the number of smokers is increasing from time to time, the industries producing tobacco, which is the main ingredient of cigarettes, are also increasing and expanding throughout the world. Tobacco production causes deforestation as most of the tobacco-producing industries prefer forests to vegetational land since forest lands are virgin, rich in humus and animal manure. According to Geist (1999), “An estimated 200,000 ha of forests/woodlands are removed by tobacco farming each year.” Moreover, the tobacco-producing companies are cutting forests for tobacco wrapping and curing, which is also increasing the deforestation rate. After the tobacco plant is grown it needs drying before entering to the processing part, this is done by burning wood for as long as seven days. Moreover, the paper used to wrap the tobacco to form cigarettes and the package needs wood, this also contributes to deforestation. According to Hilderman (2010), not only affects the climate by increasing the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide, which latter results in climate imbalance, but also it indirectly affects the environment by inhibiting water recycling, as the existence of trees is the main factor that causes rain. It also triggers severe flooding as there are no trees to prevent sediment runoffs and no forests to hold more water than farms or grasslands. Besides, deforestation results in soil erosion, winds or rain take the topsoil to the river and rocks this results in soil erosion. Wildlife extinction is also one of the major environmental impacts caused by tobacco production as a result of deforestation. Forests provide habitats for over 80% of plants and animals that live inland, but deforestation destroys these habitats diminishing biodiversity. Secondly, Tobacco growing usually involves substantial use of chemicals – including pesticides, fertilizers and growth regulators. These chemicals affect drinking water sources as a result of runoff from tobacco-growing areas (Novotny, 2015). Moreover, tobacco in the form of cigarettes contains hazardous substances like arsenic, lead, nicotine and ethyl phenol. The substances leached from the discarded butts enter to the aquatic environment and soil (Novotny, 2015). The chemicals toxify the soil and the water bodies to cause death to both aquatic and terrestrial animals. Therefore, we can conclude from this that tobacco production and consumption are highly toxic to the environment as they cause deforestation which is the reason for many kinds of environmental devastations that are happening nowadays, and affects the soil and water bodies when trashed as it contains hazardous substances.
The second reason why tobacco production and consumption must be reduced is due to its harmful negative effects on human beings, resulting in health problems and violating human rights. All forms of tobacco have harmful effects on health including cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco snuff. According to (World Health Organization, 2002), approximately one billion men and 250 million women are daily smokers, and 8 million people die yearly from these smokers, which is making smoking a major cause of death yearly. O’Connor (2013) claims that smoking for long period takes away 10 years of a person’s life. The main components of tobacco in cigarettes are nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide. Nicotine is harmful as it leads to withdrawal syndrome, which is the inability to concentrate, and depressed mood. Tar contains carcinogens which can lead to cancer, if used in large amounts it blocks the alveoli. Carbon monoxide prevents the hemoglobin of the red blood cells from transporting oxygen to our body cells and this can cause a shortness of breath. The harmful gasses such as silicates are also harmful to our respiratory system. Tobacco is hazardous to human beings as it is the cause for the most dangerous diseases in the world such as different kinds of heart problems, respiratory problems, cancer, emphysema, SIDS, bad breath, periodontitis, and premature aging. According to the article “Toll of Tobacco in the United States” (2019), tobacco in the form of cigarettes kills 480,000 people in the US, which means tobacco kills more people than alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides yearly. According to Ramos (2018), not only the consumption but also tobacco production causes health problems, as a recent study of farmworkers in North Carolina found that the tobacco farmworkers had higher levels of nicotine than the actual smokers. The world health organization (2019) explained that nicotine is injected into their body by their skin when harvesting the wet tobacco and it makes them feel sick, such kind of sickness is called Green tobacco sickness. This kind of illness results in nicotine addiction and different kinds of withdrawal syndromes including depressed mood, insomnia, irritability and difficulty concentrating (Ramos, 2018). Moreover, tobacco production and consumption are public health issues with human rights implications (Ramos, 2018). The article “Child Labor in Global Tobacco Production: A Human Right Approach to an Enduring Dilemma”,(2018) describes the global tobacco giants such as Philip Morris, British American tobacco and imperial tobacco, through a complex supply system, engage the labor of children, throughout the world to extremely dangerous environments, which has both immediate and long-term consequences for the children being employed and for society. Children when working in farms face different kinds of hazardous exposures, such as working long hours, chemicals, heavy lifting, lacerations and piercing from equipment and extreme weather conditions (Ramos, 2018). Thus, tobacco production is causing health problems and violations of human rights. Therefore, we have to reduce the rate at which tobacco is produced and consumed as it results in many kinds of health complications and human right violation in root production places.
One reason that we must reduce the rate at which tobacco is produced and consumed is its negative impact on the economy of consumers and governmental health care centers. According to the World health organization (2019), More than 80% of all tobacco consumers, which means smokers, live in low- and middle-income countries. Indeed, The World Health Organization (2019) claims that Tobacco use results in poverty by redirecting household spending from basic needs such as shelter, food to tobacco products such as cigarettes, snus, and chewing tobacco. The tobacco users living in low-income countries spend a considerable percentage of their income on smoking (Rueger, 2013). For example, if a person smokes one pack a day, which is the average intake of smokers, he/she spends approximately 12,000 US dollars for 5 years. For people living in low-income countries, this amount is 80% of their 5 years total income (“World health organization”, 2019). Moreover, the main financial problem that the users face is the money spent on the treatment of the diseases that arise as a result of tobacco consumption. According to Ekpu & Brown (2015), About 15% of the aggregate health care expenditure in high-income countries can be attributed to smoking. For instance, In the US, the proportion of health care expenditure attributable to smoking ranges between 6% to 18% across different states and in the UK, the direct costs of smoking to the national health care service have been estimated at between £2.7 billion and £5.2 billion, which is equivalent to around 5% of the total National Health Service budget each year (Ekpu & Brown, 2015). Thus, according to these listed statistical facts and reasons, we can conclude that tobacco consumption can result in financial problems to its users.
In conclusion, Consumers should help the government and World Health Organization to scale down the production and consumption rate of tobacco, as it is negatively affecting us, our environment and our Economy. Consumers are the first people that should be addressed, as they are the ones who determine the rate of tobacco production. The overproduction of tobacco can result in deforestation which can later lead to environmental destruction. Moreover, the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes are the cause of soil, water, and Air pollution. Moreover, Tobacco production and consumption are causing Human beings to face different kinds of serious health complications including lung problems, heart-related problems, and cancer, those problems latter results in death. Besides, tobacco consumption can result in financial problems to its users, as the majority of the consumers are from low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco consumers also spent money on treatment from tobacco-related diseases. The article “The Tobacco Atlas”, (n.d.) describes that approximately 5.7 trillion cigarettes were smoked worldwide in 2016. Despite the overall consumption has reduced slightly over the recent years, the future path of global tobacco production and consumption control is still uncertain (“The tobacco atlas”, n.d.). Some techniques have been implemented on the ground to reduce the consumption rate of tobacco such as increasing smoke-free places by distributing “smoking prohibitive signs” all over the world, and giving the exact amount of nicotine to the consumers to help them and those who are exposed to secondhand smoke, to escape from the harmful gases. These techniques are believed to diminish the production and consumption rate of tobacco. As Doctor Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former director-general of the world health organization said, “A cigarette is the only consumer product which when used as directed kills its consumer.”, tobacco consumers should know that they are buying weapons that are designed to program them and shorten their life when buying tobacco products.
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