The tobacco industry
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copied from http//globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/Hunger/Causes.asp#Thetobaccoindustry
The tobacco industry
Smoking kills, reduces economic productivity and exacerbates poverty, charges the world?s premier health body, the World Health Organization (WHO).
Smoking also contributes to world hunger, as the tobacco industry diverts huge amounts of land from producing food to producing tobacco
" Dr Judith MacKay, Director of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control in Hong Kong, claims that tobacco?s ?minor? use of land denies 10 to 20 million people of food. ?Where food has to be imported because rich farmland is being diverted to tobacco production, the government will have to bear the cost of food imports,? she points out.
... The bottom line for governments of developing countries is that the net economic costs of tobacco are profoundly negative ? the cost of treatment, disability and death exceeds the economic benefits to producers by at least US$200 billion annually ?with one third of this loss being incurred by developing countries?.
? John Madeley, Big Business Poor Peoples; The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World?s Poor, (Zed Books, 1999) pp. 53, 57
"Madeley also describes in detail other impacts on land from tobacco use
- The land that has been destroyed or degraded to grow tobacco has affects on nearby farms. As forests, for example, are cleared to make way for tobacco plantations, then the soil protection it provides is lost and is more likely to be washed away in heavy rains. This can lead to soil degradation and failing yields.
- A lot of wood is also needed to cure tobacco leaves.
- Tobacco uses up more water, and has more pesticides applied to it, further affecting water supplies. These water supplies are further depleted by the tobacco industry recommending the planting of quick growing, but water-thirsty eucalyptus trees.
- Child labor is often needed in tobacco farms.
- For more detail, refer to Big Business Poor Peoples; The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World?s Poor, by John Madeley, (Zed Books, 1999) ch. 4.
Madeley continues on to point out that heavy advertising of tobacco by TNCs can ?convince the poor to smoke more, and to use money they might have spent on food or health care, to buy cigarettes instead.?
A report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says that from a socioeconomic and environmental perspective, there is little benefit in tobacco growing, and that ?While a few large-scale tobacco growers have prospered, the vast majority of tobacco growers in the Global South barely eke out a living toiling for the companies.? Furthermore, ?the cigarette companies continue to downplay or ignore the many serious economic and environmental costs associated with tobacco cultivation, such as chronic indebtedness among tobacco farmers (usually to the companies themselves), serious environmental destruction caused by tobacco farming, and pesticide-related health problems for farmers and their families.?
In fact, it is interesting to note that the tobacco industry has gone to extraordinary level to discredit the World Health Organisation (WHO) and others that are fighting tobacco issues , as a report from the WHO describes. A Committee of Experts had been set up in October 1999 to ?enquire into the nature and extent of undue influence which the tobacco industry had exercised over UN organisations.? This Committee produced the report that ?found that the tobacco industry regarded the World Health Organization as one of their leading enemies, and that the industry had a planned strategy to ?contain, neutralise, reorient? WHO?s tobacco control initiatives.? They added that the tobacco industry documents show that they carried out their plan by
- staging events to divert attention from the public health issues raised by tobacco use;
- attempting to reduce budgets for the scientific and policy activities carried out by WHO;
- pitting other UN agencies against WHO;
- seeking to convince developing countries that WHO?s tobacco control program was a ?First World? agenda carried out at the expense of the developing world;
- distorting the results of important scientific studies on tobacco;
- discrediting WHO as an institution.
While some countries, such as the US have had the resources and political will to tackle the large tobacco corporations, these multinationals have intensified their efforts in other regions of world such as Asia, to continue growing and selling cigarettes, as well as expanding advertising (to create demand, not meet).
Reports from the WHO show that there is a lot of political manouvering by large tobacco companies to lower prices, to increase sales, etc. In addition, the poor and small farmers are the ones most affected by the impacts of tobacco companies. The hard cash earned from this ?foreign investment? is offset by the costs in social and public health. In effect, profits are privatized; costs are socialized.
If one doesn?t wish to give up smoking because it is considered their free choice, how about giving up smoking so others may have a choice?
More issues around tobacco and its impacts, the actions of the tobacco industry, attempts at global regulation, and more are provided on this site?s tobacco section.
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Salaam Br Saladin,
Oh that's awful news.
It has to be done something about this problem.
It would be better if they produce vegetables on the tobacco fields.
And what about those awful opium plantage especially in Afghanistan!?
There must be a good way to earn money of producing food instead of drugs.
Peace
Sis Majidah -
ban tobacco from business and make it like home stuff...P whoever wanna smoke has to grow themselves..D also herb..D
peace
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Salaam Shamsul,
HE HE that's what you want heh!?
Peace
Sis Majidah -
Salaam Shamsul,
HE HE that's what you want heh!?
Peace
Sis Majidahhehe..!! I hate tobacco...herb is fine with me..
lets chill!!.. shock
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SaLaM
There will be so much violence if tobacoo is stopped from being supplied.
I agree..
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Salaam Br Shamsul,
I like herbs too but which herbs are you pointing at? )
I don't know why I feel a bit suspicious here!!!??
Peace
Sis Majidah -
Salaam Br Shamsul,
I like herbs too but which herbs are you pointing at? )
I don't know why I feel a bit suspicious here!!!??
Peace
Sis MajidahObviously the one which ur thinking..D twisted
peace
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ban tobacco from business and make it like home stuff... whoever wanna smoke has to grow themselves..D also herb..D
peace
My, you could make certain countries and regions go bankrupt!
But then again, their tobacco-based economics are basically exploiting an addiction...
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hehe..!! I hate tobacco...herb is fine with me..)
lets chill!!.. shock
aww, the sweet sweet herb....
Smoking that can be problematic too, though. Its just not as hazardous as inhaling tar, and horse urine, and everything else that is in cigarettes.
Now if you eat it...... wink wink wink
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peace
I smoked cigarettes, but gave it up. I loved the habbit but hated the 4000 (FOUR THOUSAND) different chemichals they wash the tobacco in.
Love the herb tho... it is Amanita Muscaria wer talking about right? -
peace
I smoked cigarettes, but gave it up. I loved the habbit but hated the 4000 (FOUR THOUSAND) different chemichals they wash the tobacco in.
Love the herb tho... it is Amanita Muscaria wer talking about right?I've never heard of that before. Dr. Google tells me that its a mushroom. If thats the case, we are not talking about the same thing...well, I'm not anyway.
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peace
I smoked cigarettes, but gave it up. I loved the habbit but hated the 4000 (FOUR THOUSAND) different chemichals they wash the tobacco in.
Love the herb tho... it is Amanita Muscaria wer talking about right?I've never heard of that before. Dr. Google tells me that its a mushroom. If thats the case, we are not talking about the same thing...well, I'm not anyway.
Im kidding ofcourse....we are on the same page. There is only one THE herb. p
(Tho, Amanita is proper fun oops and concidered the herb up here)
I love how debates at free minds can take some pretty unpredictable turns and twists. Cigarettes are bad m'kay? ...yes but herb is fun o__0
Peace
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(Tho, Amanita is proper fun Embarassed and concidered the herb up here)
Whoah there, that things a bit dangerous!
Probably better off with something less toxic but just as hallucinogenic!
Peace
It's harmless when dried. the acid's that are toxic are destroyed by the drying process. Another option is to search for the holy grail..
http//www.egodeath.com/images/amanitaholygrailheinrich.jpg
In the morning when the dew is still there, the water in the grail is red because all the psychoactive compounds are pulled out into the water without the toxic acids. Just drink from the grail and speak to God, as the ancient canaan/phoenecians said. The vikings called it the cup of odin.
I havent been involved with any of this since i took Islam as my deen, but much of my spirituality today was founded when i was a heathen/shamanic viking, through the use of the personal relegious experience through shamanistic principles and herbs/fungi.I would say tho, that if anyone concider shamanism as part of their spirituality, be aware that it is a double edged sword. You really have to KNOW what youre doing, just thinking that you do is not good enough.
As for smoking...this helps quit smoking, and the lung related problems smokers have after quitting
Datura Stramonium
http//psychedelia.dk/leksikon/sider/ent/natskygger/1.jpgI know it sounds whack, but smoke a small amount of the dried leaves, BUT FOR GODS SAKE DO NOT EAT IT!. It is altso used to help astma patients, who altso have to smoke the leaves.
The native American shamans altso reccomend elephant ear (Kalanchoe beharensis)to quit smoking
http//www.plantoftheweek.org/image/kalanchoe2.jpg
Oh yeah, and the tobacco industry is the devil. Brother Joe pointd out why. they on purpose, but cancer provoking compounds in it. And of 100's of diffrent kinds of tobacco they insist on using the only one that is actually toxic on its own.