Tobacco Smoking

OVER ONE-THIRD OF the world's adult population can be classified as smokers, and this number is expected to grow. Projections made by the World Health Organization posit that the total number of smokers will approach the 1.6 billion mark in the year 2010. After a relatively innocuous beginning in the Americas, tobacco smoking has now become a hotly [Page 905]debated and controversial political issue. Tobacco smoking has been linked to variety of major medical conditions, and as the number of smokers increases throughout the world, the effects of tobacco smoking will similarly escalate.

Tobacco smoking refers to the direct inhalation of the smoke created by burning the dried leaves of the tobacco plant. The practice originated among the indigenous people of the Americas, who used tobacco, smoked in a number of variations, in the shamanic ceremonies and rites that were a central part of their spiritual and religious life. With the arrival of the Europeans in the New World at the end of the 15th century, the once monocultural practice was spread, first to Europe, and then to the rest of the world.

Over the years, although the basic practice has remained the same, the mode of delivery has changed. During the 18th century, snuff was the preferred method of tobacco intake, but this fashion changed in the 19th century with the burgeoning popularity of cigars. The coming of the 20th century saw a revolution in the way goods were produced, and tobacco fared no differently; in the late 19th century, the manufactured cigarette was born. The cigarette represented a turning point in the history of tobac-co—the ease of its assembly and distribution created a great many more smokers and, along with them, a thriving tobacco industry.

Starting in the mid-20th century, concerns that the smoking of cigarettes was related to the onset of lung cancer began to surface. The scientists of the day, notably Dr. Ernst L. Wynder, had conducted several studies that indicated this causality, but their findings had mainly been restricted to the readership of medical journals. In 1950s, The Reader's Digest published the first reputable, mainstream articles exploring the link between cigarettes and lung cancer. One such article, aggressively titled “Cancer by the Carton,” prompted public discourse about the validity of the claim and marked the beginnings of a concerted effort between the medical community and governmental bodies to reduce tobacco smoking, because of its health risks, among the populace.

The regulation of smoking and smoke yields varies widely around the world in both scope and degree of enforcement, but in the United States, this effort has continued into the present day, with the government employing a double-headed policy of deterrence and remediation. Restriction on cigarette sales, increased taxation, and smoking bans form the basis of the determent campaign, and health education and warnings, a highly visible ad campaign, and the provision of resources for those seeking to quit smoking target current smokers. The proliferation of these antismoking aids serves to underscore what is perhaps the greatest barrier to decreasing the prevalence of smoking—the fact that tobacco is highly addictive. Although there is an abundance of scientific evidence that shows that tobacco is highly dangerous to one's health and that cigarette smoke is deadly to both active smokers and passive smokers, who are continually exposed to secondhand smoke, people persist in the habit, and deaths from tobacco use continue to increase.

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