Details: Category: Region 9; Published: 12 March 2021

RO9 SmokingKills Smoking is considered one of the most preventable factors of non-communicable diseases. It is a practice in which a substance, usually tobacco, is burned and the resulting smoke is breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. The use of tobacco kills up to half of its users and it can also be deadly to non-smokers. According to the World Health Organization in 2020, Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Over 80% of the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries.

According to the CDC, tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemical components, and at least 250 of these chemicals are harmful to human health. Food Drug Administration established a list of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) in tobacco products and tobacco smoke, these include Carcinogen (CA), Respiratory Toxicant (RT), Cardiovascular Toxicant (CT), Reproductive or Developmental Toxicant (RDT), and Addictive (AD) constituents.

All forms of tobacco are harmful to our health. Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide. Other tobacco products include various smokeless tobacco products, cigars, cigarillos, hand-rolled tobacco, pipes full of tobacco, waterpipe tobacco, bidis, and kreteks. Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body, including the blood (acute myeloid leukemia, bladder, cervix, colon and rectum, esophagus, kidney and renal pelvis, larynx, liver, lungs, mouth and throat, pancreas, stomach, trachea, lung. and bronchus. It can also increase the risk of developing stroke, lung diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases the risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults. Infants whose mothers smoke while pregnant and are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth.

Despite the falling prevalence of smoking in the Philippines, it is still a challenge for the government to persuade smokers to stop smoking. As part of the government efforts of regulating smoking in the country, tobacco policies were established. These include Republic Act No. 9211 also known as "Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003”, an act regulating the packaging, use, sale distribution, and advertisements of tobacco products; Republic Act 10351 or the Sin Tax Law of 2012, An Act Restructuring The Excise Tax On Alcohol And Tobacco Products; Republic Act No. 10643 also known as “The Graphic Health Warnings Law”, An Act To Effectively Instill Health Consciousness Through Graphic Health Warnings On Tobacco Products; and Executive No. 26 s. 2017, Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-Free Environments in Public and Enclosed Places.

-PNC-ZDN Rowence F. Zorilla

References:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Tobacco

https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/tobacco.html

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/cancer/index.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/pregnancy/index.htm

2. World Health Organization-Tobacco

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco