On 31st May every year since 1987, “World NoTobacco Day” has been commemorated under the auspices of the United Nations. The commemoration aims to raise awareness of tobacco use’s harmful effects and non-smokers’ exposure to tobacco smoke. The theme of this year’s commemoration was “Grow Food Not Tobacco”.
The consumer community worldwide has always been championing the elimination of tobacco use, and we take the themes of World No Tobacco Day seriously and see how they could be effectuated each year.

Tobacco contains 4000 poisons or toxic substances which, when smoked, chewed or inhaled, damage various body organs, resulting in the tobacco user being afflicted with dangerous ailments. Among the toxic substances are tar, ammonia, acetic acid, carbon monoxide and nicotine.
Tar, for example, damages the teeth and gums and causes tooth decay or carbon monoxide causes oxygen deprivation resulting in shortness of breath and asthma or nicotine, in addition to being addictive, damages the blood vessels and heart. The list of diseases tobacco causes is very long and includes oral and lung cancers and other cancers; heart disease; osteoporosis; arthritis; damage to the eyes and kidneys. It is estimated that a regular smoker will lose 15 years of life.

The negative social effects are many. Tobacco use debilitates the body and causes low performance in the workplace and overall, society would have low productivity and low production. Tobacco users have periods of hospitalisation which could drain a family’s resources and inevitably results in a cost to the State. Lower earnings and premature death of breadwinners could cause much deprivation and suffering in families. Pregnant women who use tobacco could cause their children to be born with many mental and physical defects.

Governments worldwide have become aware of the dangers of tobacco use by the devoted and selfless work of doctors and laymen who have carried anti-tobacco crusades over decades. This has resulted in most countries today having anti-tobacco legislation. In Guyana, Dr Leslie Ramsammy stands out among the heroes of the anti-tobacco movement and his untiring work over decades has resulted in the strong National Tobacco Act of 2017. This Act, among its other stipulations, establishes 100% smoke-free environments in all indoor public spaces, in indoor work areas, and in all public transportation; bans all forms of advertising, including promotion and sponsorship of and at sports events; health warnings being featured on 60% of all packing of tobacco products including the use of photographs. Furthermore, tobacco products cannot be sold to minors.

The efforts of legislation and anti-tobacco education have begun to bear fruit and the Pan American Health Organization has reported that tobacco use in the Americas has declined from 28% to 16.3% between 2000 and 2020. In Guyana, there is far less smoking in offices, social events, public spaces, and public transport. This may seem ironic when the Demerara Tobacco Company (DEMTOCO) is the most profitable company in the country. The answer to this puzzle is that DEMTOCO enjoys a near monopoly of the tobacco trade.

The Tobacco Industry has carried a counterattack on the success of the anti-tobacco efforts, especially in the Western World. Their strategy is to shift their advertising blitzkrieg to the Developing World and to target children and young people everywhere. In commenting on this trend, Dr Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said: “The Tobacco Industry and its allies do not rest.

Currently, they spread a lot of misleading information that promotes, especially among young people, the falsity that the use of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and hookahs is safe”. To underscore this effort to attract youngsters, e-cigarettes come in a large number of flavours including bubble gum and candy. Dr Ramsammy bemoans this situation: . . .”we still have very poor or almost no regulations when it comes to e-cigarettes, vaping and hookah”. . . and calls on the Ministry of Health and other complementing agencies to correct this deficiency and fully implement the 2017 Act.

We end this offering with a recent remark by Dr Ramsammy since it reflects this year’s theme of World No Tobacco Day: Tobacco is a killer and we should not diminish that fact . . . It is unfathomable that a global system will still support the utilisation of 200,000 hectares of land that could grow food to feed the hungry, but instead, we grow tobacco that kills eight million of us prematurely. It is not just a talk about reducing the use of tobacco but that we ban tobacco; it is not quite an agricultural product.”