The majestic plant of “Tobacco” or in scientific terms “Nicotiana Tabacum” posses many advantages apart from smoking it. Tobacco has been used in many ways through out times, and in previous times it has been used for decoration, or even often used in genetical and botanical research due to its high yield. Allowing itself to be harvested multiple times in one year, making it easy to examine. The extract this plant possess is called “Nicotine” and it has been used for pharmacology and perfume purposes in addition to smoking and chewing (Normand, 2017). Today we are gonna go over several controversial topics that Nicotiana Tabacum possess, from what are other alternatives to smoking cigarettes, to the effects this tobacco plant has caused in our economy, not to mention the roll health care has, and how it has impacted the overall health in our society. Tobacco as we know it raises many concerns to our society, even though many people may think that the tax revenues help’s the U.S. economy. The overall health care of tobacco surpass the economic stimuli it brings in, this paper will analyze the ins and outs of this topic, giving a good illustration on the amazing facts of this killer plant.
The tobacco plant or “Nicotiana Tabacum” has over, sixty species the derive from it (Peto, 1996). Apart from a few species, the tobacco plant is native to Australia, but the specimen we are familiar with, the one that goes into cigarettes, has up to sixty species that derives from it. “Nicotiana Tabacum” which originates from South- America and “Nicotiana Rustica” which is native to North America (Anna, 2015).
Tobacco at first in America was being cultivated and used for its pleasure effects, and sometimes for treating the ill (Warner, 2000). Through out time we can see that at first everyone expected too much from this herb, in ancient times, most herbs that we are familiar with would only be used for a few conditions. But for tobacco the story its different, they expected it to heal a vast range of disorders form, “head lice to hemorrhoids, from hysteria to tetanus” and many more (Anna, 2015). Also writings on this subject say that tobacco was mainly for medicine, but “Nicotiana” contains many other alkaloids. That being said scientist started to figure out that we should set aside the prejudices generated by the ill-effects of tobacco smoking, and start examining the leaves for the substances that it posses (Anna, 2015).
This majestic but deadly, plant has caused, over 3 million deaths a year, and its excepted to exceed 10 million around 2030 (Anna, 2015). Nicotiana Tabacum, has impacted the economy in a very dramatic way, and it is clear from all the research that the money the Tobacco Industry has collected over the years outweighs the cost to the economy. Both from the health aspect and the amount of jobs it’s provided. (Hart,1961).
We all know that smoking increases health risk, but most people aren’t fully aware of the actual consequences of smoking, and what it can actually lead to. In the big picture smoking harms nearly every organ of the human body, causing diseases and reducing the health of does who choose to smoke. Around 1 out 5 deaths in the United States are cause by this factor(Warner, 2000). Tobacco can cause many deadly sicknesses, like; cancer, cardiovascular disease (hart and circulatory system), respiratory disease and many others. Cigarette smoking has also many effects on early childhood growth, including risk for infertility, low birth, and many more (Michael, 2004). This plant also plays a role in the growth and strength of women’s bones, meaning that a girl that smokes is way more likely to break their bones than one that doesn’t.
Smoking 1 or 20 cigarettes a day does not make a difference. Of course the chances are higher the more you smoke, but it’s a myth that society has made up, that people who smoke less don’t get any of these dangerous diseases. Tobacco itself, is not as dangerous, because it does not posses all the chemicals and bad stuff that companies put into “cigarettes”, but never the less still contains addictive and many harmful aspects to it. Going back to the risk this plant has, it doesn’t only possess disease’s like lung cancer, it’s also a risk factor for many types of cancer, from, mouth to liver, stomach and bladder.
Cigars, Pipes, and other type of smokeless tobacco also cause diseases. In conclusion there is no safe way to use this majestic plant. Smoking damages the airways and small air sacs that one posses in their lungs, it doesn’t matter if your not smoking it, everyone who is around a smoker is affected. Once smoke enters your mouth the risk for lung cancer and other diseases increases for secondhand smoke. People who get this so called “smoker’s cough” is generated due to the irritation of the airways and the lungs like we mentioned previously, when the smoker attempts to inhale more smoke the body of course rejects it, causing mucus and coughing. Tobacco in many ways is the gateway that leads to other harmful behaviors. It’s shown that people who smoke at a young age are more likely to consume alcohol, illegal drugs and criminal activities. Now this might seem like a vague statement, but this doesn’t necessarily imply that tobacco causes these random behaviors, but there is definitely a link between these factors and smoking (Warner, 2000).
Now that we have mentioned the several health issues that come with this plant, we are gonna analyze the actual chemical component of Tobacco “Nicotine” The chemical is located in the leaves of tobacco, that’s when it achieves it’s heights form of concentration, the substance Tobacco emits is not there for the sole purpose of smoking. It actually has a very important function in the life of this plant. This incredible plant uses “Nicotine” as a insecticide, against bugs or any other predator that is gonna try to harm it, in other words it has a defensive mechanism. That being said there was/is a so called poison that was made out of it called “Black Leaf 40” a supposed environmental safe, “natural” insecticide. In many ways this poison is deadly because it posses over 40 percent nicotine sulfate, and has been used by many agricultural farmers in the early 1700’s. The reason it was so used in these times was due to it’s easiness to make, all you had to do is boil tobacco leaves in water with sulfuric acid, and you would have this poison called “Black Leaf 40” (Benowitz, 1998) That being said, we must clarify that it’s not the tobacco plant that is poisonous, it’s the amount of nicotine, mixed with sulfate, creating a deadly chemical. Don’t get miss leaded, most things in this world we live in are poisonous, “It is only the dose which make’s a thing deadly” (Stumpf, 2006).
Tobacco is addictive because of the chemicals it possesses, and one of the main components is “Nicotine” which causes some sort of adrenaline rush once in the blood stream(Michael,2004). It also triggers an increase in dopamine. Tobacco addiction, is one of the hardest to hide. Why? Well because, first and foremost it’s legal, it can be consumed anywhere and its relatively easy to obtain if you are of age (Appolino, 2017). Most people start smoking because of it’s social aspect, in other words helping an person create face to face interactions with other individuals.
An addiction occurs when you cannot stop smoking or chewing, or what ever method one prefers. Also when you attempt to quit you suffer withdrawals (rapid hart rate, sweating, mood wings and many other). There are treatments available for tobacco/nicotine addiction, but keep in mind it has to be managed with the proper treatment, or els you will most likely relapse. One option is to alter your lifestyle, such as not surrounding yourself by smokers, and surrounding yourself with people that will push you to end this addiction. Another big alternative to satisfy the feeling of nicotine with out having to smoke is, NRT, (Nicotine replacement therapy) This type of therapy showed up in the 1980s but around 2016 companies were starting to create there own products(Michael,2004). This generated a huge issue because the same companies that were tying to sell you smoking products were selling anti-smoking products, which led to people combining NRT with smoking, rather than using it as a replacement (2017).
There is one method that proved its self to be successful, and that is the act of watching therapeutical videos, which were supposed to alter your perception on smoking. These “NRT” product’s varied from, using a nicotine patch, chewing anti-smoking gum, spray or inhalers. Helping the individual by giving low doses of nicotine with out the tobacco (2004). Through out the years, the Government also has tried raising tax on cigarets, and raising the legal smoking age to +21, in an attempt to reduce the amount of people who smoke in the U.S.
Moving on to the last section of our paper, and the most controversial part of this topic, being positive for the economy. On one hand, it does provide many jobs, tax revenues and economic stimuli. That being said it seems like it is positive, also its highly addictive, so the demand, unless regulated, will never stop, meaning the “want” factor is always gonna be there. But there are other aspects that must be analyzed. The cost due to health problems from smoking in many ways is surpassing the economic revenue that these Tobacco industries are bringing in. In a large scale there is no doubt that smoking is really bad, for the economy and the health. But in the U.S. in particular, the health cost and productivity cost, tied in with the consumption of cigarets, has raised a incredible amount of money around $193 billion annually in the United States, including about $100 billion or so in health care cost and the rest in productivity. So to understand this, its estimated that a pack of cigarets cots $6 for an individual, the cost the economy suffers for that pack is around $18 per pack(Warner and Chaloupka, 2005). That being said we can see that Tobacco does add to the economy, but the reality is that it’s taking around 3 times the amount from the economy (2005). Many States, try to increase the tax price on cigarettes as a principal tool to discourage smoking. In conclusion it has a lot to do on which side of the economy you are in, and that will lead to, if the benefits exceed the cost or if its the other way around (Hart, 1961) In many ways the money contributed to the economy, both from taxation and work productivity outweighs the cost to the economy (Anna, 2015).
In many ways we have covered tobacco and its amazing journey through out time, the impact and seriousness that this plant has on human health, and last but not least the overall economic aspect of it. In conclusion to our research question tobacco as we know it has many other alternatives, from the use of Nicotine Replacement therapy, to using nicotine patches. The health care has overpassed the economic stimuli these companies have brought in to aport the economy, and it has very severe consequences for does who choose to smoke it. We live in a world were actions have consequences, and does consequences can be very severe, form a light cough, to a cardiovascular disease. If you decide to make that action you must step up and accept the consequences. The tobacco plant is not to blame, it has given humans many positive things from medicine to insecticides. It’s the humans who manipulated this extraordinary plant to create an addictive product who are to blame.