By Naomi Sharang
Unarguably, the popular catchphrase that “smokers are liable to die young’’ is very apt in the campaign against tobacco use but cynics wonder if the slogan is having its desired effects on the populace.
Tobacco is a leafy plant grown in hotter climates and it can be smoked, chewed or sniffed.
Medical experts, however, insist that whenever someone uses tobacco, is addictive chemical, nicotine, is released into the person’s bloodstream.
“It speeds up the user’s heartbeat rate, raises his blood pressure and makes him feel more energetic for a brief period,’’ says Dr Jimi Akinwande, a general physician.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Report on Trends in Tobacco Smoking 2000-2025 says that “tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by its manufacturers.’’
It also says that tobacco use is currently responsible for the death of about six million people across the world each year, with many of these deaths occurring prematurely.
“Six hundred thousand people are also estimated to die from the effects of second-hand smoke,’’ the report adds.
Medical experts say that although tobacco smoking is often associated with ill-health, disability and death from non-communicable chronic diseases, it is also associated with increasing risk of death from communicable diseases.
They add that tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable deaths globally.
Similarly, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as “the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature deaths worldwide’’.
A report of the agency indicates that tobacco use causes diseases affecting the heart, liver and lungs; insisting that smoking is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.
“The effects depend on the number of years that a person smokes and on how much the person smokes.
“Starting smoking earlier in life and smoking cigarettes higher in tar (a sticky substance that forms when tobacco burns and gets into the lungs of people who smoke) increases the risk of pulmonary disease and lung cancer.
“Incidence of erectile dysfunction is approximately 85 per cent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers,” the report adds.
Experts say that tobacco smoke contains more than 50 chemicals that cause cancer.
Tobacco smoke also contains nicotine, a highly addictive psychoactive drug, which causes some sort of physical and psychological dependency in the smoker.
“Cigarettes sold in underdeveloped countries tend to have higher tar content, and are less likely to be filtered; potentially increasing vulnerability to tobacco smoking-related diseases in these regions,” the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Besides, an online publication says that most smokers will lose between 10 and 15 quality life-years before they die; adding that tobacco smoking also worsens diabetes.
Commenting on the Nigerian situation, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, says that statistics shows that not less than 6.4 million Nigerians are exposed to tobacco smoke in restaurants, while 5.6 per cent of Nigerians use tobacco products.
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Okowa says that the cited statistics are from the 2012 Global Adult Tobacco Survey, calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to give his assent to the National Tobacco Control Bill 2015.
Meanwhile, Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has announced that the president recently signed the bill into law.
In essence, the Tobacco Control Act 2015 repeals the Tobacco Smoking (Control) Act, Cap.t6, LFN 2004 enacted in 1990 and amended years later.
The Act will ensure effective regulation and control of production, manufacture, sale, labelling, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco and tobacco products in Nigeria.
It will also ensure a balance between economic considerations and health implications of tobacco manufacture, tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, among other things.
Mr Seye Omiyefa, the Executive Director, Youth Action on Tobacco Control and Health (YATCH), an NGO, says that with the law, the Federal Government has fulfilled a significant part of its obligations to protect the citizenry from tobacco-related deaths.
He recalls that the Federal Government was one of the signatories to WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in October 2005.
“The new law will ensure effective regulation and control of production, manufacture, sale, labelling, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco and tobacco products in Nigeria.
“This also includes ban on sales of cigarette to underage persons who are tacitly the target of the tobacco industries.
“Children, who are affected by Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), are dying of pneumonia and respiratory childhood infections.
“In 2006, there were over 9,000 reported tobacco-related cases in Lagos State Government-owned hospitals, while the government spent about N216,000 to treat each of these cases.
“One of the implications of the new tobacco-control law is that rates of smoking will drop, while the health sector will now spend its budgetary allocations on specific programmes instead of using the funds for the treatment of patients with tobacco-related cases,’’ he says.
Omiyefa says that the Tobacco Control Act 2015 is another platform to actualise plans to increase taxes on tobacco products.
He insists that increasing the excise tax payable on tobacco products has turned out to be the most cost-effective tobacco control measure in several countries across the world.
All the same, May 31 is designated by the WHO and its partners as World No Tobacco Day.
The day is aimed at highlighting the health hazards of tobacco use and advocating effective policies to stem tobacco consumption.
The WHO insists that one in every 10 cigarettes consumed is illicit, making cigarettes cheaper and more accessible to people from low-income groups, as well as to children.
The global health agency says that this year’s World No Tobacco Day is aimed at combatting the illegal tobacco trade.
“The tobacco epidemic is one of the world’s biggest-ever public health threats, killing nearly six million people annually,” the WHO says in a fact-sheet on tobacco.
“Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030,” it adds.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Stop illicit trade of tobacco products”. (NANFeatures)
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