Agriculture and Environment: Tobacco

Introduction

Tobacco is mostly known for its damaging social and health impacts. It is one of the largest causes of premature death worldwide and is the most common preventable cause of death in the world. Tobacco kills nearly 10,000 people every day worldwide. In 20 years that figure is expected to climb to some 30,000 deaths per day, or 10 million per year (Tobacco Free Kids 2001).

Twenty-five diseases & counting
Tobacco is known or a probable cause of some twenty-five diseases. These include lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, and cancer in other parts of the body. In addition, second-hand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke, poses a severe health risk to those exposed to it. For this reason, such people are known as "passive smokers."

Not just the smokers who suffer
Second-hand smoke has been found to carry nitrosamines (potent cancer-causing agents) and glycoproteins (proteins that cause allergic reactions). Studies have shown that non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke can suffer significant damage to the functioning of their small airways. The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organisation has concluded that second-hand smoke causes cancer (BBC News 2002).

Green tobacco sickness
Smokers and those exposed to tobacco smoke are not the only people at risk. In addition to the health impacts associated with using tobacco products, agricultural workers (especially children) who weed and tend tobacco plantings or pick tobacco have been reported to experience "green tobacco sickness" (GTS).

Serious occupational hazard
This is a type of nicotine poisoning caused by the absorption of nicotine through the skin. Absorption can be accentuated when those who work with tobacco do not wear gloves or protective clothing, as is common in most developing countries. Green tobacco sickness is considered a serious occupational hazard.

It is characterised by symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, weakness, headache, dizziness, abdominal cramps, and difficulty in breathing, as well as fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rates. Research in North Carolina (the largest tobacco-producing state in the United States) suggests that 41% of all tobacco workers experience GTS at least one time during the tobacco harvest (Quandt et al. 2000).

Child labour, smoking-related problems
The presence of large-scale tobacco production is often followed by tobacco processing plants in the same regions (Tobacco Free Kids 2001). In some areas, this has resulted in the use of child labour (for example, to roll cigars) as well as the introduction of smoking-related problems into the same areas.

This particular problem has no easy fix, though it must be remedied to make tobacco an economically sustainable crop for the small farmer in developing countries. It must be addressed on a political level.

Not much research on sustainable practices
Because tobacco is implicated in such a large number of deaths annually, there has been relatively little research undertaken to promote the sustainability of a crop that ultimately kills its consumers. Tobacco as a crop, however, is responsible for damage to ancient forests, and it causes soil depletion through soil erosion and nutrient loss. Pollution also occurs from the extensive use of pesticides and fertilisers.