The history of tobacco shows nothing but the positives but tobacco is actually harmful and potentially deadly. Tobacco was discovered by the American Indians and believed tobacco to be more than it actually was. It was used in many ways and all of them was thought to be totally positive effects, not knowing how harmful it really was. They had no idea that tobacco caused lung disease, buerger’s diseases and was also highly addictive. It was not until now that the world started to realize the major negative effects it has on the human body.
It’s so bad that the government had to step in and make laws like ,you have to be 21 and over to smoke, no smoking in public places and no more advertising it to keep people safe from its harmful effects. The American Indians was the first to discover and use tobacco in about 6,000 B. C. The American Indians used tobacco for many different ways, such as medical and religious practices. They believed that it was a cure for all thing and used it for dressing wounds ,as well as a pain killer. When Christopher Columbus came to the new world the American Indians offered him dry tobacco as a gift.
That was the first time anyone besides the Indians have seen tobacco. The sailors brought it back to Europe and started growing it on their own. That’s how Tobacco started spreading all over Europe. In 1588, Thomas Harriet ,a Virginian, was the first to start promoting smoking tobacco and that how the world got exposed to smoking tobacco. By 1600s the whole world was exposed to tobacco and it was every popular. It was so popular that it was often used as money. It became this popular mainly because it had many uses.
In the earlier years tobacco was used for many of the same reasons that it used for today. The Indians were the first to find and grow tobacco. When only the indians were growing tobacco they used it for only religions and medical purposes. Whenever they would get any kind of cut, sore or wound they would put tobacco on it. In 1571, a spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes claimed that tobacco could cure up to 36 health problems. The indians also used tobacco for ceremonies and rituals. They believed that tobacco is the unifying thread of communication between humans and spiritual power.
Those was the most common use for it until the recreational use came about. Using Tobac recreational purposes became the number one reason for using it now. Tobacco can be used by humans for recreational use in many ways: it can be sniffed, chewed, eaten, smeared on skin, drunk, and last but not least smoked. At this time smoking was an unusual way to intake tobacco. In the 1500s smoking was only found in americas and some parts of Africa. Europeans were unfamiliar with this activity and were amazed when they encountered it.
Smoking was so popular in North America that is was used by nearly every tribe. In 1588 when Thomas Harriet promoted smoking tobacco it blew up and became the number one way to use tobacco in the world. In the 1900s the cigarettes and cigars became the major tobacco product made and sold. In 1901 over 3. 5 billion cigarettes were sold, while 6 billion cigars were sold. Chewing tobacco was the second most often way that people used tobacco. At one point it was the most popular way to use it but that didn’t last long because cigarettes were invented.
Because of the way that tobacco was being promoted, it was thought to be something more than it really was. The tobacco ads were misleading just so they can sell more. The tobacco companies told the world a bunch of lies about the positive effects that it had. They have perpetrated fraudulent claims about their products for nearly as long as the products themselves have been on the shelves. One of the biggest lies they told was that is protects your throat against irritation and cough. At the bottom of the advertisement it reads “Your throat protection- against irritation- against cough.
In the 1930s the company Lucky Strike marketed their cigarettes to women as an appetite suppressant. The Camel company was in competition with Lucky Strike. To get more people to by there product, in the 1940s Camel began and ad campaign. In that campaign they were alleging that doctors gravitate towards Camel products. So the people would believe that if doctors use them then they must be safe. It wasn’t until not to long ago where everyone start to see tobacco for what is really is and how bad it is for you. Tobacco is finally getting exposed for the terrible effects it has.
One of the major negative effects from tobacco is cancer. Smokers are at a much more higher risk of catching cancer than non smokers. Smoking is so far the the biggest preventable cause of cancer. Tobacco is responsible for more than 1 in 4 Uk cancer deaths and nearly a fifth of all cancers cases. One of the most common cancers that tobacco causes is lung cancer. Lung cancer is the most common negative effect caused by the use of tobacco because more people smoke tobacco than any other way of using it. Smoking tobacco causes lung cancer because of all of the chemicals it has in it.
Not only lung cancer but also 13 other cancers. When you inhale the smoke all of the chemicals enters your bloodstream and lungs. Smoking to much of these cancer causing chemicals, you’ll eventually catch cancer. The companies thought they could help to stop tobacco from causing lung cancer by adding filters and making low tar cigarettes. It didn’t work like how they expected. Filters and low tar cigarettes make very little difference. It doesn’t lower your risk of catching lung cancer compared to smokers on an average cigarette.
Cancer is a big negative effect caused by tobacco but it’s not the only one. (“How Smoking Causes Cancer. “) Tobacco causes many diseases but one of the major disease that it causes is buerger’s disease. Buerger’s disease is Inflammation and thrombosis in small and mediumsized blood vessels, typically in the legs and leading to gangrene. Buerger’s diseases is also called thromboangiitis obliterans. This disease causes blockage in your blood vessel of your hands and feet. This disease is highly common in mainly people who use tobacco products.
Scientists don’t know why using tobacco increases the risk of catching buerger’s disease but it is proven that it does. Almost everyone that catches this disease has used tobacco before at least once in there life. The use of tobacco causes cancer and diseases but those are not the only negative effect it has. (“Buerger’s Disease. “) A negative effect caused by using tobacco products is addiction. Tobacco is one of the most abused substances in the world because it’s so addictive. In 2011 there was about 70% of adults that said they wanted to stop smoking but couldn’t.
Nicotine is the main addictive chemical in tobacco. When it’s absorbed in the bloodstream it causes a rush of adrenaline and also creates an increase in dopamine. Dopamine stimulates the part of the brain that’s associated with pleasure and reward. This causes a psychological addiction and over time causes a physical addiction too. Some people are able to smoke occasionally but others became addicted. Because of what the negative effects that tobacco has, the government has stepped in and put laws to limit the use of tobacco. (“Tobacco and Nicotine Addiction. )
The government decided to step in and try to help limit the people who become exposed to the harm of tobacco by making laws. One of the laws thats is now being enforced is that you have to be 21 or older in order to buy tobacco. This law was put in place in order to protect the youth from being exposed to the harms of tobacco. This protects them by delaying the age that they are able to use the product until critical development is made in their brain. As long as they follow the law, young people will not be affected by the use of tobacco. (“Moreno, Nereida”) Using tobacco is not the only way that is can affect you.
You can be negatively affected by tobacco without even touching it. All you have to do is be around someone who’s smoking it and you’re can be affected. This is called second hand smoking. Second hand smoking has over 7,000 different chemicals in it. There is no safe exposures to secondhand smoke. You are inhaling the same dangerous chemicals that the smoker is. Even breathing just a little bit of the chemicals can be dangerous. About 3,000 adults die each year from secondhand smoke. This became a problem for people of doesn’t smoke and don’t want that stuff in there system.
It’s not fair that people who’s never used tobacco before still have some of the same risk as someone who does because of second hand smoke. To stop this from happening the government made a law saying that you can not smoke in a public place. This law has save many people from being exposed to secondhand smoke. “Secondhand Smoke. ” In 1970 congress passed the Public Health Cigarette smoking Act. This act banned the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio. Banning advertisements is the most effective way to recuse tobacco consumptions.
The people were tired of the lies that they were spread. The Act was also made to protect the youth from experimenting with tobacco. One third of youth experiment with tobacco because of an advertisement they seen or heard. Before this act was put in place, about 80% of children between the ages of 13-15 were being exposed to tobacco ads. The congress also knows how bad and deadly smoking tobacco is so they don’t allow it to be advertised anymore. In the earlier years society use to look upon tobacco with positive thoughts until it was exposed for the deadly crop it is.
Everyone use to believe that it could cure many things that is really couldn’t. Advertisment said false things like, doctor prefered it, it would make you look better, it could help sore throats and things like that. This went on for a while until the congress stepped in and started making law that will protect people from its harmful effects. They came up with ideas like, you have to be 21 or over to smoke, and no smoking in public. These new rules have saved many people from being infected by the negative effects of tobacco.