May 31 is No Tobacco day... Let’s talk about how Tobacco affects your health as consumers and non-consumers of the herb.
Tobacco usage dates back centuries, and was first discovered amongst the native Americans where the plant originated from. It was used for various purposes, for medicine, for recreation and for religion.
It first became commercially cultivated in 1612 when john Rolfe took seeds and formed the first tobacco colony in Jamestown. It was at this time a wonder crop that cures all known ailments, the wealthy man’s pass time hobby. It was the mother seed that gave birth to empires, and was so valued at a time it was the gold standard and was used as currency in some colonies in the new found lands.
The most common way people used this wonder crop was by chewing and smoking.
Around those periods, only a hand full of people could afford to smoke it, as it was a luxury. Everything changed in 1881 when America’s James bond sack invented the cigarette rolling matching, thereby producing cigarette in a massive scale which in turn made it available to everybody.
Cigarette was then to man (and of course women and children) what dog is to man today; man’s best friend.
It was believed to be a potent medicine, pain killer and what not. If you didn’t smoke, then you weren’t cool or in the know.
While it went on, little to nothing was known about its side effect on users and even non users (at least not those who deliberately smoke it) known as second hand and third hand smokers.
The first ever serious investigation into the health implications of cigarette was carried out by German scientists who found a link between lung cancer. This was later in the 1950s confirmed to be true that Germany under the Nazi party (who would have thought huh!?) became the forerunners of the campaign against tobacco smoking in the 1930s,(though there had been campaigns all over Europe, but not as serious), banning it in all public transport.
Ever since the Nazi sponsored research into the health implications of tobacco usage, more and more research and findings have been done, and the verdict is that tobacco is a killer and a menance to society and the environment.
With about 7million deaths arising from tobacco smoking according to the American Center for disease control (CDC).
It doesn’t matter how you choose to ingest it, tobacco is dangerous to healthy living. Worst still, if you smoke it, you expose yourself to over 600 ingredient which burns to give out over 7,000 dangerous chemicals with ober 60 being carcinogenic according to the CDC.
A cigarette is the only consumer product which when used as directed kills its consumer…
Gro Harlem Brundtland
The health implications linked to tobacco usage includes:
- Lowers sex hormones in both male and females, and also leads to reduces blood flow to the genitalia which in turn affects general sexual health and fertility.
- Hair loss/ baldness
- Nail infection
- Increases the risk of heart diseases.
- Lung cancer
- Diabetes
- Increases the risk stroke
- Increases thw risks of Heart disease
- Chronic bronchitis
- It impairs cognitive function
- Cancer of the pancreas.
- Withdrawer syndrome etc.
You might say you don’t take cigarette and therefore not directly affected by the action of those who do. Unfortunately, though you do not take a puff or may never have, but you are not free from the implications of every puff that goes off into the air.
The issue of second hand smoking is as health damaging as actually taking a stick or two of cigarette if not worst as lots of studies have shown.
Of the 8 million people reported by the World Health Organization to die every year due to tobacco usage, over 1 million death is of those who do not actually smoke or have never smoke, but have been exposed in one way or the other to some of the over 7000 chemicals earlier spoken about. These are the secondhand and third hand smokers.
Secondhand smoking occurs when smoke from cigarette is puffed into the air and its perceived and inhaled by anybody in close proximity. No matter how little, their is never a safe level of exposure to these smoke containing cancer causing chemicals. For this reason, cigarette smoking is banned in public and creating designated no smoking area has been legislated in many countries all over the world including in some places in Nigeria.
In fact, smoking in the presence of kids is considered a criminal offence. Children are the most infected with second handsmoking which generates health issues such as:
- Sudden infant death syndrome
- Respiratory disease
- Cardiovascular disease
- Frequent asthma attack and
- Ear infection etc.
Third hand smoking occurs when chemicals from tobacco smoke which could linger on air, clothes, walls, furniture’s etc is exposed to people which most times also reacts with household chemicals that is now known to generate carcinogenic properties.
May 31 is the world no tobacco day. Do you see the health implications of tobacco and a reason to speak out to say no to tobacco… How would you be doing that.
We hope you get the needed value and know how Tobacco affects your health from its consumption as outlined in this article. Be sure to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
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See also: Health Benefits, Uses And Ways To Prepare Okra
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