Introduction:
“Smoking leaves an unseen scar; it fills your insides with toxins and tar” (the fresh quotes). Tobacco is widely regarded as one of the world's most serious public health threats. The origins of tobacco can be traced back to Mesoamerica and South America, where it was first used around the first century BC and continues to the present day. During the first century, forms of tobacco were used as an offering, as they would burn down the tobacco plant and inhale the smoke. Furthermore, some tribes chewed and smoked it in pipes as a ceremonial and medicinal, to reduce wounds, pain, and even toothache. Tobacco was widely known among indigenous peoples as a sacred substance used in religious rituals to communicate with spirits. The production of tobacco is from a plant that produces and delivers nicotine, an addictive drug found in tobacco products containing toxic chemicals (Mishra).
Fig. 1. A picture of Tabacum plant, “Nicotine Tabacum-Cultivated Tobacco.” |
Tobacco refers to the plant Nicotine Tabacum, which is found in the stems and leaves of a plant. Tobacco products containing nicotine can harm our bodies in a variety of ways, including smoking and even snuffing the smoke, which is considered a second-hand smoker, those who did not smoke but inhaled the smoke of a first-hand smoker. To begin with, tobacco leaves are harvested, cured, and processed to create a variety of tobacco products that are highly addictive and dangerous. Not only nicotine, but the food and drug administration in the United States reports that cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, at least 250 of which are harmful ("What is smoking and tobacco?").
Types of Tobacco:
Tobacco is being developed through the derived plant nicotine Tabacum:
Bids for hand-rolled cigarettes. It is made up of tobacco wrapped in Tendu leaves, which are Asian plants. Bids may have various flavors, such as chocolate and mango, or they may be unflavored. In addition, Bid use may increase the risk of lung, stomach, cancer, heart disease, and chronic risk.
Cigarette: Cigarette, is a tube-shaped tobacco product containing a high level of the toxic addictive chemical nicotine. More than 4,000 different chemicals are found in smoking, with more than 60 of them being harmful and causing cancer. Cigarette use causes cancer, in the oral cavity, kidney, lungs, cervix, stroke, heart disease, and many other diseases.
Hookah: a smoking pipe that combines fruit and tobacco smoke filtered through a water. It is made up of three main parts; the head, the body water bowl, and the hose. According to the World Health Organization, hookah consumption is equivalent to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke from a single cigarette. It has been linked to mouth, lung, and heart cancer. Furthermore, the heavy metals used are a cause of cancer and create a hazard.
Vaping/e-cigarette: a battery-powered device that contains nicotine, flavor, and other chemicals. It evolves into a vaper used to have from users, producing fine, heated mist. It is known to contain a toxic chemical (“Types of Tobacco Products”). According to research, more than 30% of teens who use e-cigarettes start smoking tobacco, compared to 8% of teens who do not use e-cigarettes (“Tobacco”).
Tobacco consumptions:
Despite the ban on purchasing tobacco for those under the age of 18, according to the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 40% of Indonesian students aged 13-15 have consumed tobacco products. According to the Indonesia Country Report on Smoking, smoking in Indonesia will have increased by 2022, with 56% of men and 9% of women smoking ("Indonesia Country Report"). This demonstrates that a high percentage of Indonesians smoke.If Indonesia’s tobacco consumer consist of a high percentage, what about other countries?It piles up and cause even more death. Tobacco use kills up to half of all users. Every year, approximately more than 8 million people are killed, with 7 million of those deaths being the result of first-hand or direct smoker. On the other hand, approximately 1.2 million are the result of second-hand smoke exposure.
Harm and risk to COPD:
Tobacco use can lead to health risks such as COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which is a chronic lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe. COPD is caused primarily by chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic bronchitis involves the situation in which as you smoke, the toxic air passes through your lungs and begins to block the airway. Emphysema, on the other hand, affects the lungs, causing air sacs to become damaged and lose their elasticity, making it difficult for lunch to work properly and oxygen to enter the bloodstream, which unable the blood to flow well. Even if it flows, the blood that flows if filled with toxic smoke and substances. Tobacco products, including smoking, are the primary cause.
Fig. 2. A Picture of smoker and nonsmoker’s lungs, Murray. |
The chemical from tobacco enables to weaken your lungs and even damage the environment through toxic emissions and greenhouse gasses (Modglin). In the United States, approximately 80% of people died from COPD caused by smoking, and 20% are diagnosed. Furthermore, cigarette smoking causes premature death, reducing life expectancy by at least ten years (Chang).
If tobacco cause many damages, why do people continue to consume it:
Addiction: Nicotine, a highly addictive chemical, is found in tobacco. When a person becomes dependent on nicotine, it is difficult to quit and want to consume more. People used tobacco in the beginning to relieve stress. However, these are only temporary solutions. However, as time passes, tobacco does not address stress relieving but rather worsens the risk to life and health.
Social and cultural: Nowadays, some teenagers are easily influenced by their friends and communities to smoke tobacco, which is considered a normal part of social interaction. As a result, they continue to smoke to fit in.
Marketing: For many years, tobacco has been one of the largest marketers, heavily involved in product advertising and promotion. It enables the induction of a positive association in one's mind.
Tobacco may appear appealing at first, but it eventually destroys your inner organs. Tobacco products have a negative impact not only on those who smoke but also on others, known as second-hand smokers, who are exposed to pollution in the environment. We should not be easily influence into a temptation that is leading us to risk and even death, especially when it comes to the environment and social that attract individual to smoke. Let us all quit smoking before it's too late.
Citations:
“20154 Tobacco.” CAMH, www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/tobacco. Accessed 17May. 2023.
Chang, Joanne T, et al. “Prediction of COPD Risk Accounting for Time-Varying Smoking Exposures.” PloS One, 10 Mar. 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7946316/#:~:text=Cigarette%20smoking%20is%20the%20most,diagnosed%20with%20COPD%20%5B4%5D. Accessed 19 May. 2023.
Mishra, Shanu, and M B Mishra. “Tobacco: Its Historical, Cultural, Oral, and Periodontal Health Association.” Journal of International Society of Preventive & Community Dentistry, Jan. 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894096/#:~:text=Tobacco%20is%20derived%20from%20the,in%20sacred%20and%20religious%20ceremonies. Accessed 18 May. 2023.
Modglin, Lindsay. “Smoking Statistics 2023.” The Checkup, 4 Feb. 2023, www.singlecare.com/blog/news/smoking-statistics/. Accessed 19 May. 2023.
Murray, Andrew. “Smokers Lungs versus Non Smokers Lungs. #infographic Https://T.Co/Jd8aqqz6gc Pic.Twitter.Com/Ieqlghlyrf.” Twitter, 20 Sept. 2016, twitter.com/docandrewmurray/status/778195024735502337. Accessed 16 May. 2023.
“Nicotiana Tabacum -Cultivated Tobacco.” Native Plant Trust: Go Botany, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/nicotiana/tabacum/. Accessed 15May 2023.
“Pin On Inspirational & Motivational Quotes.” Pinterest, 1 Mar. 2016, id.pinterest.com/pin/275001120974649114/. Accessed 18 May. 2023.
“Tobacco.” World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco. Accessed 18May 2023.
Types of Tobacco Products -Ct.Gov, portal.ct.gov/-/media/Departments-and-Agencies/DPH/dph/hems/tobacco/tobaccoproductspdf.pdf. Accessed 17May 2023.
“What is smoking on Tobacco?” Australian government, https://www.health.gov.au/topics/smoking-and-tobacco/about-smoking-and-tobacco/what-is-smoking-and-tobacco. Accessed 19 May. 2023.
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