Tobacco & E-Cigarettes
"The number one cause of preventable death in the world."
What is Tobacco?
Tobacco is a plant grown for its leaves, which are dried and fermented before being put in tobacco products. It comes in the form of traditional cigarettes, hookah, e-cigarettes, smokeless, chew, and more. The main ingredient in tobacco is nicotine, which in its purest form has the ability to kill a person within an hour if injected into the blood stream.
How Does Tobacco Affect the Body?
Tobacco use, especially smoking, has been proven to harm nearly every organ in the body. Every year world-wide, more than 5 million people die due to tobacco use. Even non-smokers are affected by tobacco use through secondhand smoke. Here are some ways smoking can affect a person and those around them:
First Hand Smokers
Cancers
Bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia
Lower lung capacity
Heart disease or stroke
Cataracts
Loss of smell and taste
Aging skin
Yellow teeth
Complications in pregnancy
Second Hand Smoker
Increased risk of lung cancer
Breathing problems
Increased risk of heart disease
Learning and behavior problems, sudden infant death syndrome, lung infection, ear problems, asthma in children whose mother smoked while pregnant
The E-Cigarette
The tobacco industry's newest form of target marketing comes in the form of a vaporizer.
There's been an incredible amount of prevention and education surrounding the harmful effects of tobacco since 1998, leading to a decline in smoking over the last two decades, but tobacco companies are always looking for ways to increase their profits. They claim that smoking e-cigarettes is a safe alternative to conventional smoking and something you can use to quit for good, but that is not entirely true. Tobacco companies wanting you to quit is a conflict of interest. Whether you are smoking or "vaping" (using e-cigs), you are still inhaling nicotine, the main and most addictive ingredient in tobacco products. Nicotine, in its pure form, is a strong poison that is commonly used in pesticides. A small dose injected directly into the blood stream can kill a person within an hour. E-liquids currently are not currently regulated, meaning it could have any amount of nicotine in it, or not knowing what ingredients are in the e-liquid.
Vaping
Vaping products deliver nicotine to the brain by vaporizing liquid inside the device that the user inhales
Negative Effects of Vaping
Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that harms youth brain development
The aerosol (vapor) can contain cancer-causing and toxic chemicals as well as particles and metals from the vaporizing mechanism that may be harmful to your lungs.
Vaping can lead to inflammation, tooth cavities, loss of bone that anchors teeth to the jaw, called periodontitis, and oral cancer
Nicotine, whether smoked or vaped, restricts blood flow to the gums, which can contribute to periodontal disease. The fluid in e-cigarettes, which can include propylene glycol, benzene, formaldehyde and other chemicals, only increases the risks.
Studies link gum disease with a higher rate of strokes caused by hardening of large arteries in the brain and also with severe artery blockages.
Periodontal disease is normally an adult disease, and we're seeing it in younger people
Dr. Crystal Stinson, assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas, also notices more cavities in her younger patients who vape, which she believes may be due to the acidity of the components in vape liquid and an increase in cavity-causing bacteria.
Source: https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/tobacco-nicotine-vaping-e-cigarettes
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/08/26/need-another-reason-not-to-vape-your-oral-health-is-at-risk
Tips from Former Smokers
The history of the tobacco industry and how they market their products.
"Younger adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers..."
Natural tobacco has always been a very sacred traditional plant for Native Americans (FYI - not for Native Hawaiians).
Throwback. When the pilgrims arrived, tobacco became one of their most important crops. Fast-forward to mid-20th century, tobacco companies (such as R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Philip Morris, Inc.[now ALTRIA], and Brown & Williamson) looking to make more profits started pumping their tobacco plants with more toxic chemicals. What started out as just fertilizer and pesticides soon took an ugly turn. Greed took over and tobacco companies soon began experimenting by pumping more and more toxic products on their crops, even during the drying and packing process. Toxins used included benzene (an additive to petroleum that has been known to cause leukemia), formaldehyde (a product that preserves dead things including humans), ammonia (a toilet and industrial cleaner), acetone (also known as nail polish remover), arsenic (rat poison), and more.
What were they thinking? Not only did they want to create a "super-plant" that was bug proof and yielded bigger, stronger and more frequent crops, they also wanted massive profits. They needed a way to get people to purchase and continue to buy their products. They figured out that including these other chemicals in the process made the tobacco much more addictive. They knowingly creating addiction to an extremely harmful and toxic products to millions of people.
Advertising. Tobacco companies also figured out early on that marketing would play a key role in the spread and acceptance of tobacco products world-wide. Through advertising campaigns as far back as World War II, they got the support of military figures, movie stars, musicians, doctors, dentists, even moms, and also created iconic figures of their own such as the famous Marlboro Man. Two of the men who played the Marlboro Man got lung cancer and eventually died, however they testified against tobacco companies. These companies continue to spend billions of dollars annually and world-wide just to recruit new smokers - especially youth.
But why youth? According to legal documents, "Philip Morris (now known as ALTRIA) felt the prime market was post adolescent kids who were just beginning to smoke as a way of declaring their independence from their parents." Basically they need lasting, new customers! But youth are not their only target...they also started targeting ethnic groups, sub-cultures (such as the hip-hop scene), African-Americans, the LGBTQ community, and so on. Some of these groups were directly targeted through a marketing initiative called "Project S.C.U.M." (subculture urban marketing).
Many people who smoked and chewed tobacco products, especially in the 1950s-1970s, started to suffer from mouth, lung, throat and stomach cancers, glaucoma, heart disease, respiratory complications and other illnesses. Meanwhile, the tobacco companies plead the 5th. In other words, they simply remained quiet or denied every accusation that their product was causing all these ailments. However, in 1998, after many lawsuits, 48 states came out in one major lawsuit, known as the Master Tobacco Settlement, against these companies and won!
Did You Know?
Worldwide, someone dies from tobacco-related causes every 7 seconds.
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Cigarettes contain chemicals—a mix of over 7,000 chemicals including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic and lead. Smokeless tobacco, although not combustible, contains a mix of 4,000 chemicals, including as many as 30 or more that are linked to cancer.
Secondhand smoke has higher concentrations of toxins than inhaled smoke resulting in more than 41,000 deaths from secondhand smoke exposure each year.
Soon after new smokers begin smoking regularly they may notice more coughing, more respiratory illnesses and decreased physical fitness.
If you're age 18 and you don't smoke or use other tobacco products, chances are you won't ever start.
After 15 years, a former smoker's risk of death returns nearly the level of a person who has never smoked.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the tobacco industry spends $48.2 million per year on marketing in Hawaii.
Each day in the U.S. about 1,600 youth under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette and nearly 200 youth under 18 years of age become daily cigarette smokers.
A statewide collaborative effort between law enforcement, merchants, schools, government and prevention agencies has contributed to a significant decrease in tobacco use in Hawaii: 60% decrease in middle schools and 40% decrease in high school students.
Sources:
www.cdc.gov www.fda.gov https://hhdw.org/health-topics/tobacco-2/
