WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) defines tobacco product as completely or partially made from tobacco. Actually, these products are small, nicotine delivery devices which are categorized as follows:
Rolls: These are the products that are made by rolling tobacco in a wrapper (paper, tobacco leaf, tendu leaf etc.). This category includes Cigar, Cigarette, Bidi, Kretek, Roll-your-own cigarettes etc.Pipes: these are made by metals or glass and hold a small amount of tobacco at one end where it is ignited in order to inhale smoke from the other end. Water pipe (Hookah) is also included in this category.Snuffs: This category includes powdered tobacco specially made for inhaling through the nose.Chewable: these are made by processing the tobacco with lime and other flavoring substances for chewing or sucking purpose. Gutkha, Khaini etc. are the popular forms included in this category.Cigarette is the most popular form, of all above mentioned products, worldwide. However in India, Bidis constitute more than 50% of total tobacco consumption. Bidis out sale cigarettes by 8/1. Bidis are made by rolling crude, unprocessed tobacco in tendu or tamburni leaf that gives it peculiar taste and a disguising natural look. Various surveys indicate that natural appearance is one of the major reasons for consumption of this tiny Indian cigarette among a large fraction of population. Kreteks are manufactured in Indonesia and mainly contain cloves along with tobacco. Cigar is made by rolling the tobacco in a tobacco leaf itself.
Tobacco product manufacturers are focusing on allurement of the tobacco users by changing the information about their products to more appealing with a safety point of view. Mild/low tar cigarettes or herbal cigarettes are good examples of that misleading, though effective, way of marketing the very same lethal product.
Manufacturers put their business ahead of public health despite having undisputed data on toxic effects of tobacco. They are very much aware about the nature of highly addictive component of tobacco that is Nicotine. Once you start getting a high with these products you become addicted to it with an alarmingly fast rate. This starting point is what manufacturers keep in mind when they launch a product in the market. Their prime target is young population as they can pay money for these nicotine delivery devices for an expected longer period.
Interesting fact is that all types of tobacco products are consumed for nicotine only, which has pharmacological activities. It is the only component that has stimulatory effects on nervous system. However, people might not be aware about those more than 4,000 chemicals that are released when a cigarette is smoked, or those cancer causing agents (around 100) present in all types of tobacco either smoked or smoke less.
Is it perceptible to get yourself exposed to highly noxious agents just for a single stimulatory one? Which itself is causing various kinds of debilities. Cigarettes are known to cause a great number of morbidity and mortality by developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), Lung Inflammatory diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Bronchitis, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Asthma, Emphysema), Lung cancer and cancers of other organs. If, on a crude level, we combine the number of deaths caused by cigarettes, it can outnumber the deaths caused by other reasons.
It is a preventable cause of such kind of deaths and we can avoid this danger to our lives. We just need to be aware about the toxic manifestations of tobacco products and the misleading promotion of these products by manufacturers.
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