SMOKING TOBACCO

Smoking Tobacco

Smoking Tobacco

Introduction

In this essay, we are going to discuss two main perspectives. The paper explains the quality of both the psychosomatic and sociological background and influences that can develop and lead an individual to becoming addictive to smoking. In today's society, smoking has become a sociological need; some influenced by family, some by friends and some make it a habit because of social groups and gatherings. As the number of smokers increase all over the world, generating huge revenues for the cigarette manufacturers and tobacco companies, the number of health complications also increase, having a direct relation to the cause. The social influences of the road to smoking for the first time have shown the demand for the next time, making it a long endless journey.

Background

In 2004, global cigarette production reached 5.5 trillion—about 868 cigarettes for every single human being on the planet. Smoking tobacco also has profound environmental consequences and, beyond the effect on air quality, producing tobacco has the following effects:

Takes up space for food crops

Contributes to deforestation

Requires heavy doses of pesticides, which affect local water supplies and fragile ecosystems

Taxes the soil, leaching out potassium and rendering the land nearly useless for food crops

Consumes massive amounts of paper

Creates millions of tons of solid and chemical waste

While the movement to curb tobacco smoking is embraced by many individuals as well as various state, national, and independent organizations, the fact remains that there are more than one billion tobacco smokers worldwide, half of whom will likely die from this insidious habit.

Discussion

Early Anti-Tobacco Efforts

The earliest anti-tobacco campaigns were not based on medical concerns. Instead, early anti-smoking messages emphasized concerns about hygiene (i.e., smoking is a dirty habit) and morality (e.g., any form of drug use is immoral). According to the National Library of Medicine in 2010, “Anti-tobacco crusaders saw the cigarette as ungodly and unhealthy.” The earliest efforts to restrict smoking included a 1632 law in the Massachusetts Colony that forbade public smoking, heavy taxes on tobacco in Virginia in 1676, and a 1683 Massachusetts law banning smoking outdoors because the danger of fire (Brandt, 2007, 23).

There is also evidence of clear concern about illness associated with smoking as far back as the 1800s but a proper report of Surgeon General in 1964 formed a proper medical opinion about the detrimental effects of smoking cigarettes and harmful characteristics of tobacco. Even with the 1964 Surgeon General's report, cigarette use did not rapidly fall. For example, cigarette use did not fall below 30 percent of the population until the late 1980s but efforts of restricting cigarette advertising in the late 1960s through new laws and banned television advertisements by 1970 helped to an extent. However, widespread marketing of cigarettes continued in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards.

In 1965, an Act passed by Congress, which restricted the advertisement and labelling of cigarettes claimed a crucial point, the Act indicated that advertisement and packaging of tobacco must demonstrate a health caution from the Surgeon General. The law also specified that it is illegal to ...