Download - History of tobacco use & abuse
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