Tobacco and its deleterious effects
RAMYA KANNAN
THE TOBACCO ATLAS: Omar Shafey, Michael Eriksen, Hana Ross, Judith Mackay; Pub.by American Cancer Society, 250, Williams Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30303 USA. $ 39.95.
Tobacco long ceased to be about just the leaves of a plant. Over the decades, it has come to be at the vortex of a tumultuous story of money, greed, power, ill health, deceit, death, poverty, courtroom battles, and movie screens.
Medicine
Tobacco has indeed come a long way since its use as a medicine in the Court of Catherine de Medici in the 1560’s. Incidentally, its introduction to Europe probably began with an indication of the path this herb — initially cultivated by indigenous Indians — would take. In 1942, Christopher Columbus and his crew returned to Europe with the first tobacco leaves ever seen on the continent. One of the crew members was seen smoking tobacco and was imprisoned by the Inquisition which believed he had been possessed by the devil!
But the Tobacco Atlas under review begins even before that. It begins in 6000 BCE (Before the Common Era) when tobacco was first cultivated in the Americas. It goes on to unravel this arresting story through the ages. It also provides current statistics on the use of tobacco by different sections of the people (for example, gender and age groups), the costs it entails to the society and the nations, the morbidity and mortality rates, and so on. The data are backed by a series of illustrative world maps. The authors have to their credit extensive work in the area of tobacco-related health research — Omar Shafey, medical anthropologist and epidemiologist; Michael Eriksen, professor and founding director of the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University; Hana Ross, economist and strategic director of the International Tobacco Control Research at the American Cancer Society; and Judith Mackay, senior advisor to the World Lung Foundation. In the preface, the authors say the Atlas “is intended for readers interested in the effect tobacco has on health, politics, economics, big business, corporate behaviour, globalisation, smuggling, tax, religion, allocation of resources, poverty, gender issues, children, human development and the future.”
Update
The book also updates readers on the changes that have occurred since the last Tobacco Atlas in 2006, including the latest addition to the signatories to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The costs of tobacco-use have also been studied more closely. The Atlas has highlighted the most effective national tobacco control laws in various countries and the increase in public awareness on the use of tobacco products.
Despite all the efforts by most countries, “approximately 650 million smokers alive today — 10 per cent of the current world population — will eventually succumb to tobacco-related disease,” John Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society, and Peter Baldini, CEO, World Lung Foundation, say in their foreword. A large proportion of these deaths will occur in low and middle income countries which will be faced with the severe consequences of the epidemics, financial, social and political effects, they add.
Yet, this extraordinary level of suffering and death is not inevitable. With comprehensive and concerted action, it is possible to reduce, even eliminate, the dangers associated with tobacco and, thereby, save many human lives. The Atlas will go some distance in enabling policy makers and anti-tobacco lobbyists achieve this. If information is power, there is enough between the glossy covers of this 128-page volume to light a keg of tinder that can blow up the business advancement strategies of a few tobacco companies.
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