World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2017

The priceless benefits of a No Tobacco World!

Tobacco – a threat to development is the theme of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2017. 

Every year, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use, and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

The stats make very depressing reading. More than 7 million deaths from tobacco use every year, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 8 million a year by 2030 without intensified action. Tobacco use is a threat to any person, regardless of gender, age, race, cultural or educational background. It brings suffering, disease, and death, impoverishing families and national economies.

Tobacco use costs national economies enormously through increased health-care costs and decreased productivity. It worsens health inequalities and exacerbates poverty, as the poorest people spend less on essentials such as food, education and health care. Some 80% of premature deaths from tobacco occur in low- or middle-income countries, which face increased challenges to achieving their development goals.

All countries benefit from successfully controlling the tobacco epidemic, above all by protecting their citizens from the harms of tobacco use and reducing its economic toll on national economies. The aim of the Sustainable Development Agenda, and its 17 global goals, is to ensure that "no one is left behind."

In addition to saving lives and reducing health inequalities, comprehensive tobacco control contains the adverse environmental impact of tobacco growing, manufacturing, trade and consumption.

Tobacco control can break the cycle of poverty, contribute to ending hunger, promote sustainable agriculture and economic growth, and combat climate change. Increasing taxes on tobacco products can also be used to finance universal health coverage and other development programs of the government.

It is not only governments who can step up tobacco control efforts: people can contribute on an individual level to making a sustainable, tobacco-free world. People can commit to never take up tobacco products. Those who do use tobacco can quit the habit, or seek help in doing so, which will in turn protect their health as well as people exposed to second-hand smoke, including children, other family members and friends. Money not spent on tobacco can be, in turn, used for other essential uses, including the purchase of healthy food, healthcare and education.

Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general. Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases and can add years to your life.

It is the leading preventable cause of death in many countries including India. Cigarette smoking causes lakhs of deaths each year in our country. 

Smoking and Increased Health Risks

Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to develop heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.

Estimates show smoking increases the risk:

• For coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times
• For stroke by 2 to 4 times
• Of men developing lung cancer by 25 times1
• Of women developing lung cancer by 25.7 times
• Smoking causes diminished overall health, increased absenteeism from work, and increased health care utilization and cost.

Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease

Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).

• Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease, which are among the leading causes of death in India.
• Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
• Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.

Smoking and Respiratory Disease

• Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.
• Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.
• If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.
• Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.

Smoking and Cancer

Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:

• Bladder
• Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
• Cervix
• Colon and rectum (colorectal)
• Esophagus
• Kidney and ureter
• Larynx
• Liver
• Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
• Pancreas
• Stomach
• Trachea, bronchus, and lung
• Smoking also increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors.

Smoking and Other Health Risks

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and affects a person’s overall health.

• Smoking can make it harder for a woman to become pregnant. It can also affect her baby’s health before and after birth. Smoking increases risks for:1,2,5
• Preterm (early) delivery
• Stillbirth (death of the baby before birth)
• Low birth weight
• Sudden infant death syndrome (known as SIDS or crib death)
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Orofacial clefts in infants
• Smoking can also affect men’s sperm, which can reduce fertility and also increase risks for birth defects and miscarriage.
• Smoking can affect bone health.
• Women past childbearing years who smoke have weaker bones than women who never smoked. 
• They are also at greater risk for broken bones.
• Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss.

Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens that makes it hard for you to see). It can also cause age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision. Smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus and can make it harder to control. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for active smokers than nonsmokers. Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function. Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis.

Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply.

Within 2 to 5 years after quitting smoking, your risk for stroke may reduce to about that of a nonsmoker’s.

If you quit smoking, your risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years.

Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk for lung cancer drops by half.

Take action. Quit smoking!