Dr. N. Munal Meitei
Environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel
Email: nmunall@yahoo.in
May 31 is World No Tobacco Day, observed since 1987. This year’s theme, “Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products,” carries immense significance to the modern world to fight against tobacco from children, youths and future generations.
The tobacco industry delves to hook the next generation. An estimated 37 million children aged 13-15 years worldwide use tobacco. Flavours are found in many nicotine and tobacco products which are highly addictive and potential health complications rising among adolescents. This not only threatens their immediate health but also paves the way for a lifetime effect.
The tobacco industry faced a decline due to increased public awareness and this has led them to target children and youths with many available means. With sophisticated and insidious tactics, the industry today exploits the pervasiveness of social media with brand influencers to glamorize youths for tobacco use. Flavored e-cigarette is another design to appeal to them. While the world is inviting students and youths to come forward for environmental protection, the tobacco industry is leveraging them.
Smoking harms nearly every bodily part and organ system and smokers die 6 to 10 years earlier than their non-smoking counterparts. Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant and risk of miscarriage, having low birth weight and babies born with a cleft lip. Men who smoke are at greater risk of erectile dysfunction.
There is no safe level for smoking. The longer a smoker’s duration, the greater the injury. Smoking even just one cigarette per day can cause smoking-related deaths. While smoking, the heart rate, blood pressure and the level of blood CO2 increase, reducing the blood’s ability to carry oxygen. Earlier, people thought smoking was risky for respiratory diseases and lungs, but smoking also causes multifarious diseases. Tobacco kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined worldwide.
Tobacco smoke contains many harmful chemicals both for smokers and nonsmokers. Mortality rates among smokers are about 3 times higher than those who never smoked. Among 7000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful and at least 69 can cause cancer. Every cigarette smoked or tobacco products pollute and diminishes our natural environment.
India, with 11.2% of the world’s total smokers, is at the 2nd rank and tobacco kills about 1.34 million Indians every year. It is estimated that about 29% of adult Indians smoke tobacco and other smokeless products like khaini, gutkha and zarda. As per a report, smokers in India consumed an average of 8.2 cigarettes per day and thus the country smoked annually more than 6 trillion cigarettes. The total costs of tobacco equate to 1.04% of the country’s GDP and the direct medical costs of tobacco-related amount to 5.3% of the total health expenditure.
Tobacco use in Manipur is significantly higher with over 55.1% of the population engaging in some form of smoking and non-smoke tobacco consumption exceeding the national average of 29%. This includes Pan quid zarda among womenfolk and khaini/gugka among the men.
The tobacco industry damages the Environment far beyond the effects of the smoke that is put into the air. Long after a cigarette has been extinguished, it continues to cause environmental damage in the form of non-biodegradable butts – millions of kilograms of which are discarded every year.
The tobacco industry has an impact on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. According to the WHO, about 3.5 million hectares of land are cleared for growing tobacco each year. Tobacco cultivation not only causes ‘Green Tobacco Sickness’ but also results in soil degradation, making it infertile to support the growth of other crops. India is the second-largest tobacco producer with 9% after China. According to ICAR, in India, around 766,000 tons of tobacco were produced in 2020 over 40 lakh hectares. The sector provides jobs to millions of people and contributes as much as Rs. 22737 crores as excise duty and Rs. 5969 crores in foreign exchange. But the total economic costs attributed to tobacco use from all diseases in India for persons aged 35 and above amounted to Rs. 177341 crores.
The environmental impact of tobacco cultivation is enormous. Tobacco is a very nutrient-hungry crop and it depletes soil nutrients more rapidly. Tobacco growing and manufacturing poisoned our water, air, soil and pollutes the beaches and city streets with chemicals, toxic waste, cigarette butts, including microplastics and e-cigarette waste. Tobacco cultivation requires large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, which degrade the overall environment. Tobacco cultivation being mainly a mono-crop, enhances soil erosion, fertility and biodiversity loss.
To cope with tobacco menace, Government of India enacted the “Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Acts 2003” which include the prohibition of smoking in public places, advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products, sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to anyone below the age of 18 years and prohibition of selling areas like Schools, Colleges. Under National Tobacco Control Programme and Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, farmers are encouraged to replace the tobacco crop with other alternatives like sugarcane, onion, maize, groundnut and soybean farming.
The tobacco industry is adding pressure to our planet’s already scarce resources and fragile ecosystem. With the tobacco industry, 600 million trees are cut to make cigarette rolling papers which are responsible for 5% of all global deforestation, emitting 84 megatons of CO2 emission. The industry consumes 22 billion litres of water and burns 11.4 million metric tons of wood to cure tobacco annually, challenging the climate and ecosystem. The collection of tendu leaves also damages forests.
Now, tobacco can no longer be categorized simply as a health threat to individuals – it is a threat to entire humanity and the planet. It is not just about the lives of smokers, but it stakes on the fate of everyone. Reducing tobacco consumption is the key to overall environmental health. Therefore, let’s celebrate World No Tobacco Day for our own health and our Environment.
