Every so often, we come across a topic so critically urgent, it takes over the entire TrackerNews aggregator. Typically, it is a natural disaster: an earthquake, hurricane, fire or flood. Smoking, however, turns out to be an even more deadly and costly disaster. By the end of the century, as many as 1 billion people will die from tobacco-related illnesses. We felt this topic so important, we have reprinted TrackerNews tumblr overview of the link suite below. Scientists and social entrepreneurs, please note the section on a call to action. —Ed.
“Smoke This” – New suite of links on TrackerNews.net
Talk about “low hanging fruit.” Smoking ranks right up there with HIV/AIDs, malaria, TB and flu pandemics as a global public health scourge. In fact, more people die from smoking-related illnesses than HIV, illegal drugs, alcohol, car accidents, suicides and murders…combined. By some estimates, as many as a billion people—two-thirds in the developing world—will die tobacco-laced deaths by the end of this century. There are better, not to mention more merciful, ways to manage population numbers.
Yet for all the public awareness campaigns and urban smoking bans (good luck, Alexandria!), more people are smoking more cigarettes than ever. In 2002, the tally stood at 5.5. trillion, but it has gone up by at least by hundreds of billions since then.
Smoking rates have leveled off in many parts of developed world, but are exploding in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. According to a recent World Health Organization survey of adult smokers, Russia leads the cigarette pack, with 40% of the adult population puffing their lives away. Indeed, of former Soviet republics, only Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have shorter average life expectancies.
Recently, the Philippines made smoking headlines when a video of an addicted toddler went viral. With the help of loads of “play therapy,” the kid is now down to 15 cigarettes per day from 2 packs. But his exposure to second hand smoke will no doubt still be considerable in a country than ranks as the #2 market in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.
Meanwhile, China boasts more smokers than the entire population of the United States. So keen are the Chinese on tobacco, they have become major players in its production in Africa. Fields that might otherwise be used to grow food are devoted to tobacco, both for export and use in Africa.
With 60% of the continent’s population in its teens, Africa is a particularly attractive market for tobacco companies. Start smoking young and it becomes that much harder to kick the addiction. If current trends hold, Africa’s tobacco consumption will double in 12 years.
The addiction goes beyond the smoke. Countries—especially poor ones—have also become addicted to the tax revenues cigarette sales generates. It is a stick that British American Tobacco (BAT) is currently waving in Kenya in an attempt to reverse smoking bans in public places, arguing that they “restrict trade.”
Counterfeit cigarettes are also big business, estimated at 12% of the global trade. Not only is quality control iffy (more nicotine, tar and god knows what else that combine to become the “4,000 chemicals in every puff”), but $40 billion worth of tax revenues are syphoned off as well.
Chemist Jeffrey Wigand, who famously blew the whistle on Big Tobacco’s culpability on “60 Minutes” (and went on to be played by Russell Crow in the movie, “The Insider”) called cigarettes elegant “nicotine delivery systems.” He may have given his former Big Tobacco bosses an idea…
Electronic cigarettes cut to the chase, atomizing nicotine into a vapor even more easily absorbed by the lungs. Battery-powered and comparatively pricey, e-cigarettes have become trendy, complete with Hollywood starlets purring about how safe they are, just as their grandmothers (and grandfathers) did for old-fashioned cigarettes 50 years ago.
Don’t want to lug around an addiction machine? No problem. Now you can get melt-in-your-mouth nicotine-soaked strips that even come in flavors, including chocolate and bubblegum. In a recent brief to the FDA, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which makes a gum to help smokers kick the habit, characterized the strips as health hazards. “Dissolvable smokeless tobacco-makers” fired back that the strips could help smokers quit cigarettes, so Glaxo’s concerns were more about market share than health.
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One of the proposed graphic warning labels submitted for public review by the FDA
A CALL TO SCIENTISTS & SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: FEELING INNOVATIVE?
One of the proposed graphic warning labels submitted for public review by the FDA
At TrackerNews, we are constantly impressed by innovations for delivering better health care, cheaply. From diagnostic “chips” made of paper and a syringe design that breaks the cold chain for vaccine delivery, to better vaccines, bioengineering malaria-proof mosquitoes and, of course, everything imaginable with a cell phone, the commitment to improving the quality of life, especially for the poorest “bottom billion,” is inspiring. It is humanity at its best. The parade of inventions at the TED, Poptech, the m-Health Summit and other conferences is impressive. But there is rarely anything on how to combat the global smoking pandemic.
Nothing comes up when you search “smoking” on the Rockefeller Foundation website. Not a single grant. Nor is it on Google.org’s radar. The Gates Foundation has a better track record, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly for public awareness campaigns and policy initiatives. Yet even that substantial contribution is dwarfed by the billions of dollars spent collectively and cumulatively by the multinational tobacco companies.
Surely, there must be some new ideas out there. Maybe some kind of nicotine vaccine that makes the chemical less addictive? Or a cell phone support network for those trying to quit. Or a campaign that targets teens not with a “this could happen to you” message, but about how they are being cynically manipulated by the over-30 set. Real rebels don’t smoke.
How about an m-banking savings plan where people are encouraged to deposit the money they would have spent on cigarettes into a special perk-filled account? In the U.S., someone spending $5 a day for a pack could save $1,725 in a year. Now add interest.
In developing countries, such as Bangladesh—which was included in a WHO survey of 14 countries that account for more than half the world’s adult smokers—the percentage of personal income is going to be even higher. Hello Grameen! Is there a way to tie together a non-smoking incentive with microfinance?
Smoking is a manufactured scourge. The rare good news is that we can do something about it in comparatively short order. Someone who quits immediately begins to feel the benefits, as do those nearby, especially children, who no longer have to suck in lungs-ful of second-hand smoke.
Come on all you science smarties and social entrepreneurs! Let’s nail this. Any thoughts?
- The World Health Organization’s magnificent “Tobacco Atlas”
- “Smoking in Africa” / VOAnews special report
- “Tobacco Underground” – The Center for Public Integrity’s ongoing investigative series on smuggling and counterfeiting
- “Modern Marvels” video segment on what’s actually in a cigarette
- E-cigarettes: from China to the Letterman show
- videos of vintage cigarette commercials from the 1940s and ’50s
- “Cigarette Giants in a Global Fight on Tighter Rules” / New York Times
- and more…
All links become part of the TrackersNews’ searchable archive.
Filed under: air pollution, cancer, smoking | Tagged: cancer, cigarettes, heart disease, lung disease, nicotine, public health, smokeless tobacco, smoking, tobacco | 3 Comments »
