History of Tobacco use & abuse

Some interesting facts

Dr. Vinod Jain MS, FACS, FICS, FIAFES, FAIS, FIMSA, FLCS, FMAS, MAMS

Associate Professor Department of Surgery

King Georg’s Medical University,Lucknow, India

People usually smoke:-

• For pleasure

• To satisfy nicotine addiction

• For social purpose

• For rituals

• For self medication

Today • Tobacco is the major public health issue • Smoking & smokeless tobacco may lead

to -- Mouth cancer- Lung cancer- Lung diseases- Heart disease- Premature birth of baby- Poor reproductive health in females - Fetal defects (child is born with defects)- Premature Death of person

(Risk is both to smokers & non-smokers)

Non smokers are at risk of passive smoking

But Tobacco was

introduced to the

world for

• Medicinal & religious use

Tobacco plant

Botanical name –Nicotiana tabacum

Main Alkaloid – Nicotine

History of Tobacco use• Used by native

Americans of north & south America since 3000 BC

• Smoked in one form or another –Since 2000 BC

(as unidentified weed for medicinal & social purpose)

Few ancients methods of smoking

Discovery & Global use of Tobacco

• Christopher Columbus (1492) “discovered” “New world” in search of Indian spices trade through sea route.

• Two crews noticed natives of American island (now Cuba), burning a weed to ward off disease & fatigue.

• The plants were brought to Europe & cultivated for Medicinal use by these Portuguese

History of Tobacco use

• Jean Nicot – French ambassador to Portugal grew the herb to use it in many diseases

• He sent it to King Francis II, Queen Mother & Lords of court for treating the ailments

• Popularly known as “Ambassador’s herb” or “Nicotiana” in Nicot’s honour

• Derives modern name Nicotiana tabacum from Nicot and Tabaco (Tabaco – cane pipe with two branches to sniff through nostrils)

Medicinal use of tobacco in Ancient time

• Used as magic herb for almost all diseases at that time

• Called as “Holy herb” or “God’s remedy”• John Frampton in 1577 wrote-

“Joyful News out of the new found world”• Used through all routes of body in all

physical forms • Tobacco was called sacred plant for

traditional use

Prescribed to treat all kinds of physical and mental illnesses:

• asthma • dropsy • ringworm • scabs • scrofula • old sores • ulcers • wounds • contusions • bruises • carbuncles • flatulence • labor pains • menstrual

periods

• halitosis • excessive

phlegm • headaches • helminthiasis • rheumatism • tumefactions • toothache • plant

poisoning • scurf • excessive

phlegm • venomous

bites • breast

afflictions

• excessive bleeding

• abscesses • wounds caused

by arrows • colds • stomachaches • constipation • kidney stones • eczema • cancer • colic • gout • indigestion

• rabies • sciatica • syncope • cataracts • dysentery • diseases of

the uterus • facial

inflammations • tonsillitis • epilepsy

• burns • deafness • cosumption • corns • warts • hemorrhoids • fevers • nose bleeds • venereal

diseases.

Traditional use of Tobacco

Tobacco used by native Americans for

• Ceremonial purpose

• Medicinal purpose

Ceremonial use

• Communication with spirits (smoke)

• Thanking the Creator

• Praying for good harvest or better fish catch

• Birth, wedding or funeral occasions

• Sealing the peace with enemies (peace pipes)

• Thanks to mother earth & other spirits

Example of ceremonial prayer O Great Creator,

I come before you in a humble manner And offer you this sacred pipe.

With tears in my eyes and an ancient song from my heart I pray.

To the four powers of creation,To the grandfather Sun,

To the grandmother Moon,To the Mother earth,And to my ancestors.

May there be good health and healing for this Earth,May there be Beauty above me,May there be Beauty below me,

May there be Beauty in me,May there be Beauty around me.

I ask that this world be filled with peace, Love and Beauty.

Traditional medical use

Even today some First Nations have “pipe carries”

- To treat earaches, snakebites & other wounds

- To purify mind & heal the body

- To heal the pain of toothache

But

• Cultivating tobacco plants in mass for use of cigarettes & chewing removes its spiritual & medicinal purpose & strips the beauty of this plant

• This commercial or recreational use (misuse) is non traditional which leads to imbalance, addiction and disease

Strict warning for tobacco misuse was also issued

in ancients times.

• 1604 (England) – King James I pronounced in his “counter blast to tobacco” that smoking was “Loathsome to eyes, hateful to nose, harmful to the brain and dangerous to the Lungs”

• 1633 (Turkey) –

Death penalty for smoking

Tobacco in India

• Portuguese brought in tobacco through Goa in 1600 for the purpose of trade

• Initially introduced to Royal courts• Spread to commoner in 17th century • Portuguese traded it for Indian textiles &

spices • British colonial rule magnified the tobacco

production & consumption (Import of American tobacco to India)

Tobacco in India• British East India company grew tobacco in India as cash crop

Cultivated tobacco in India

Exported to Britain

Re-imported cigarettes to India to earn revenue

Tobacco in India• In late Nineteenth century Beedi industry

grew in India

• Oldest Beedi manufacturing firm established in 1887

• Tax policies of Indian Government after Independence also favoured Beedi consumption

• Introduction of Gutkha (oral tobacco) has opened New front between commercial tobacco use and public health

Tobacco in India

Tobacco use in India

Brake in tobacco control • Ready revenues from cash crop• Export to tobacco-hungry world market• Employment opportunities to millions • Half-hearted political will• Lack of self control• Glamorous advertisement of Tobacco• Lack of moral education

Napoleon Bonaparte once said -

“This vice brings 100 millions francs

each year. I will certainly forbid it at once- as soon

as you can name a virtue that brings in, as much as

revenue.”

Do you like to convert these beautiful plants into

“death sticks”?

“Death sticks”

THANK YOU FOR

PATIENT HEARING