We need food, not tobacco: World no tobacco day observed on 31st May 2023

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) observed on May 31, 2023, by the WHO in collaboration with public health advocates from all around the world. “We Need Food, Not Tobacco” is the topic for this year. The 2023 global campaign intends to encourage tobacco growers to produce nutrient-dense, sustainable crops by increasing awareness of alternative crop production and marketing prospects. Additionally, it will strive to highlight the tobacco industry’s tactics to obstruct initiatives to replace tobacco farming with environmentally friendly crops, which would worsen the world food crisis.

WHAT IS TABACCO?

A plant called tobacco is used to produce goods that give tobacco to the body. The addictive substance in tobacco products is nicotine, but they additionally include a variety of other compounds that have detrimental effects on a person’s health.
Products made from tobacco leaves can be eaten in a variety of ways, including:
consumed in a loose state in hookahs (water pipes),
cigarettes,
cigars, or pipes
bitten,
inhaled, and retained inside the cheek or lip as wet snuff combined with cannabis & smoked in “joints.”
Although tobacco is lawful, its production, marketing, distribution, and use are strictly regulated by federal, provincial, and local legislation.

The outermost parts of the plant that produces tobacco are used to make tobacco products. Before the leaves are used to make tobacco products, they are matured, fermented, and cured.
Long before European settlers arrived in North America, Indigenous peoples used tobacco as a sacred and curative herb.
Today, one of 3 tobacco corporations commercially packages and sells to merchants the majority of the tobacco that is produced legally in Canada. This tobacco is farmed in Ontario. Many of the less expensive illegal cigarettes that are sold here in Canada are brought in illegally from the US.

CONSUMPTION OF TABACCO

India ranks second in both tobacco production and consumption. In the nation, a wide range of tobacco products are sold for incredibly low prices.
According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India, 2016–17, 267 million adults in India (15 years and older) (or 29% of all adults) smoke tobacco. Smokeless tobacco is the most popular type of tobacco use in India, and the most popular brands are khaini, gutkha, betel quid with tobacco, and zarda. Tobacco is smoked through bidi, cigarettes, and hookah devices.
Tobacco usage is one of the major dangers to public health on a global scale. Along with the loss of life, it carries significant social and financial implications. For people aged 35 and above, the total economic expenses in India in 2017–18 for all diseases linked to tobacco use were INR 177 341 crore (USD 27.5 billion).

Among adults (age 15+), 28.6% of the population currently uses tobacco products (men 42.4%; women 14.2%).
21.4% of adults use smokeless tobacco (men 29.6%; women 12.8%)
10.7% of adults smoke (men 19.0%; women 2.0%)
The majority of adult smokers smoke bidis (7.7% of adults overall)
Among youth (ages 13–15):
8.5% currently use some form of tobacco (boys 9.6%; girls 7.4%); and
4.1% smoke tobacco and 4.1% use smokeless tobacco.

DISADVANTAGE TO HELATH

Blood clots and weakness in the walls of blood vessels in the brain, which can lead to stroke
Blood clots in the legs, which may travel to the lungs
Coronary artery disease, including angina and heart attack
Temporarily increased blood pressure after smoking
Poor blood supply to the legs
Problems with erections because of decreased blood flow into the penis
Other health risks or problems:
Cancer (more likely in the lung, mouth, larynx, nose and sinuses, throat, esophagus, stomach, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, colon, and rectum)
Poor wound healing after surgery
Lung problems, such as COPD, or asthma that is harder to control
Problems during pregnancy, such as babies born at a low birth weight, early labour, losing your baby, and cleft lip
Decreased ability to taste and smell
Harm to sperm, which may lead to infertility
Loss of sight due to an increased risk of macular degeneration
Tooth and gum diseases
Wrinkling of the skin

CONCLUSION

Non-smokers can also die from tobacco use. Additionally linked to poor health consequences, second-hand smoke exposure accounts over 1.2 million annual deaths. Nearly half of all youngsters breathe tobacco smoke-polluted air, and 65 000 young people pass away each year from diseases linked to second-hand smoke. Babies that smoke while their mothers are pregnant may develop a number of chronic health issues.

Article by – Eshita Nagar