Smoking

8 Pages 2035 Words

Tobacco use - smoking and smokeless tobacco


Tobacco is a plant grown for its leaves, which are smoked, chewed, or sniffed for a variety of effects. It is considered an addictive substance because it contains the chemical nicotine.

The tobacco plant is believed to have originated in the Western Hemisphere. The cultivated species most often grown for North American and European tobacco products is Nicotiana tabacum. The leaves of the plant are prepared for smoking, chewing, or sniffing. In addition to nicotine, tobacco contains over 19 known carcinogens (most are collectively known as "tar") and more than 4,000 chemicals.

Prior to European influence in the Americas, tobacco was used by the Indians of Mexico and Peru for ceremonies, medicinal purposes, and to alleviate hunger pangs during famines. Columbus is credited with introducing tobacco into Europe. Tobacco use became widely accepted by the Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, and Scandinavians. Explorers and sailors who became dependent upon tobacco began planting seeds at their ports of call, introducing the product into other parts of Europe and Asia.

The colonists introduced tobacco on the American continent in the early 1600s. It became a major crop and trading commodity of the Jamestown colony. Over the years, tobacco has been claimed as a cure for a wide range of ailments with varying forms of administration (for example, used in poultices, pastes, smoked, chewed, sniffed, or placed in any body cavity). Its social importance also grew over the years, even to the point of denoting the "modern or liberated woman" during the first part of the twentieth century.

It was not until the 1960s, with the introduction of medical research related to cigarette smoking, that the adverse health effects of tobacco became widely publicized.

SMOKELESS TOBACCO
Unfortunately, most of the publicity focused only on the health hazards associated with cigarette SMOKING. W...