Tobacco: One of the inventions that causes the most deaths

With terrible harm, cigarettes are classified as one of the inventions that cause the most deaths besides nuclear bombs, explosives and guns.

Tobacco is not only the cigarette we often see, but there are many types: cigars (cigar); chewing tobacco for the ancients who had to work in wet or incapable environments like sailors and miners; snuff tobacco; Snus tobacco can be swallowed and swallowed by the corpse.

China is the world's largest cigarette producer and consumer with 350 million smokers - (Image: Mic.com).

In 2016, global addicts burned 5.5 trillion cigarettes, an increase of 12% over 2000. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cigarettes (40%) with 350 million people. addicted to smoking.

Heart disease, respiratory problems, diabetes and cancer caused by smoking are the main cause of death for 7.1 million people each year (80% of them in developing countries and 890,000 people die from photo effects). effects of secondhand smoke, even if they do not smoke) and cause economic losses of up to US $ 2,000 billion worldwide.

The number of drug addicts in Western industrialized countries has dropped sharply since the beginning of the 21st century, whereas the number of addicts is increasing in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by the year 2025, the number of addicts worldwide will increase to 1.64 billion and mostly in developing countries.

India also belongs to the group of countries that produce and consume the most cigarettes - (Image: Wikipedia).

Tobacco production and trading industry has a trade value of US $ 683 billion (2016), which is also the industry with the highest profit. Therefore, although governments have imposed heavy taxes on tobacco products, manufacturers are still willing to increase production and make profits higher and higher.

In 2016, the five biggest tobacco giants in the world (excluding China) including Philip Morris and Altria Group (USA), British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco (UK), Japan Tobacco International (Japan) achieved a total revenue of 150 billion dollars with a profit of up to 35 billion dollars. The irony is that these companies belong to rich countries - where the number of smokers is declining, so much of their output is for export to poor countries.

In China, only the National Tobacco Company has the exclusive right to manufacture this item, supplying the domestic market with 2,000 billion cigarettes annually, earning US $ 91.7 billion and making a profit. fat $ 16 billion.

Number of deaths from smoking-related diseases in countries in 2016 - (Image: OurWorldinData.com).

According to data from the Tobacco Atlas magazine of the American Cancer Society (ACS), every year in Vietnam more than 134,000 people die from smoking-related illnesses. Up to 14.7 million Vietnamese from 15 years and older and 50,000 children 10-14 years old are addicted to smoking. It is estimated that every year, the country loses about 84.6 trillion dongs to medical treatment, medicines, labor productivity and income due to smoking-related illnesses.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly voiced their persecution and exploitation of child labor on tobacco farms in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

In addition to being exploited for labor due to very low wages but having to work long hours and being abused, children working at these farms often get sick from nicotine poisoning. When harvesting leaves still moist, an amount of nicotine equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes will be absorbed into the child's body through the skin causing dizziness, nausea, vomiting. In the long run, this will affect children's intellectual development.

Tobacco cultivation also has a major environmental impact because it is susceptible to eye spots, leaf spots, fungal, bacterial and nematode bumps. Therefore, during cultivation, it takes 16 sprays of pesticides.

Moreover, tobacco plants need a lot of nutrients, so growers must use large amounts of fertilizer. Residues of pesticides and fertilizers will pollute water sources, soil and air in farming areas and surrounding areas, and pose a high risk of cancer infection for people directly involved in farming.

The long-term cultivation of tobacco also depletes the agricultural land because it removes all the phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium from the soil.

Every year, up to 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are disposed of everywhere after smoking - (Image: Univeristy of Bath).

In order to meet market demand, deforestation has been rampant to increase the area planted to tobacco and to burn wood for drying tobacco leaves in developing countries. And finally, another equally serious problem is pollution caused by the number of cigarette butts (filtered) discarded after the cigarette is fully smoked. About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded annually on the environment, on the road and in public areas.

With immediate and long-term harm to humans and the environment, cigarettes are among the most deadly inventions in modern times, along with nuclear bombs, explosives and guns.

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