TOBACCO

TOBACCO
Tobacco has been grown as a crop and traded as a commodity since ancient times. The spread and use of tobacco was greatly encouraged especially in Africa by colonial and slave masters. As civilization and technology increased over the years, tobacco has been refined and processed into various end products. Tobacco contains a chemical known as nicotine that is responsible for causing addiction to the use of tobacco especially when it is smoked.
In recent times, there has been wide spread campaigns and concerted efforts to ban the use of tobacco especially smoking it cigars and cigarettes. The reasons are largely but not limited to health problems and medical complications associated with its use. Although, there are legislations in most countries banning the smoking of cigarettes in minors, it is becoming increasingly difficult everyday to prevent minors from smoking or banning smoking completely. Even tobacco companies are aware of the dangers their products pose to the public and the Government. They always accompany their advertisements with warnings about the danger of smoking tobacco, yet they still go ahead to sell and promote the use of these products. It has been discovered that this is just a subtle way of absolving themselves from blame and subsequent litigations they anticipate may come from some members of the public as a result of the pain, sorrow and discomfort they bring to people through their products.
Tobacco is a very common feature on the list contraband goods in many countries. However, in countries where it does not appear on the list of contraband items, there is usually a very high price tag in the form of various taxes and exorbitant excise duties when it is been traded across international boundaries.
In as much as some people especially those who enjoy smoking do not see anything wrong with it, it is considered as an act of irresponsibility, carelessness and potential danger to the environment to smoke in some places especially public places like offices, business premises, gas stations, auto service stations etc. Some of these places are tagged “No Smoking” or called smoke free areas.
It has been proved beyond reasonable doubts that the long term use of tobacco or smoking could result into devastating medical, health and environmental related problems and illnesses. Most of these illnesses affect respiratory tract. Some of these illnesses include lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary heart disease. These can lead to several other illnesses and medical conditions.
Besides the danger of medical conditions, smoking in highly flammable or inflammable areas is a huge risk and blatant violation of safety standards and protocols. Hence, smoking in such areas is strongly prohibited. A simple investigation would reveal that fire accidents that occurred as a result of smoking are not difficult to come by.
Conversely, in as much as it has been proved to be a source of devastation and threat to the health of many people; it is a form of money spinner to others. Some of these people include the rural dwellers who engage in the cultivation of tobacco, the intermediary business people who buy it from the farmers and supply it to tobacco companies and export agencies. Tobacco companies are usually the highest gainers from the fortune made from this commodity. This is evident in the staggering amounts of money they invest in branding, advertising, and promotion of their products. Also, in some countries, tobacco companies spend a whole lot of money lobbying legislators so that legislations that would affect their business negatively should not be passed.
Interestingly, tobacco companies tend to invest a lot of their money in corporate social responsibility activities especially to their host communities. This is seen by most people as an attempt to redeem their corporate image since they are usually portrayed negatively in the society.