Related topics: food and drug administration , smoking , cigarettes
Tobacco
hideTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or dipping tobacco, or snus. Tobacco has long been in use as an entheogen in the Americas. However, upon the arrival of Europeans in North America, it quickly became popularized as a trade item and as a recreational drug. This popularization led to the development of the southern economy of the United States until it gave way to cotton. Following the American Civil War, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette. This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies until the scientific controversy of the mid-1900s.
There are many species of tobacco, which are all encompassed by the plant genus Nicotiana. The word nicotiana (as well as nicotine) was named in honor of Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent it as a medicine to the court of Catherine de Medici.
Because of the addictive properties of nicotine, tolerance and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed of tobacco consumption are believed to be directly related to biological strength of nicotine dependence, addiction, and tolerance. The usage of tobacco is an activity that is practiced by some 1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The World Health Organization reports it to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and estimates that it currently causes 5.4 million deaths per year. Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in developed countries, however they continue to rise in developing countries.
Tobacco is cultivated similar to other agricultural products. Seeds are sown in cold frames or hotbeds to prevent attacks from insects, and then transplanted into the fields. Tobacco is an annual crop, which is usually harvested in a large single-piece farm equipment. After harvest, tobacco is stored to allow for curing, which allow for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids. This allows for the agricultural product to take on properties that are usually attributed to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Following this, tobacco is packed into its various forms of consumption which include smoking, chewing, sniffing, and so on.
For more information about Tobacco, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with tobacco
Vaccine being developed to help smokers quit
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (16) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Glaxo-SmithKline has joined forces with Nabi Pharmaceuticals to produce a vaccine to help smokers give up their addiction permanently.
Study links cigarette changes to rising lung risk
May 18, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
(AP) -- It may be riskier on the lungs to smoke cigarettes today than it was a few decades ago - at least in the U.S., says new research that blames changes in cigarette design for fueling a certain type ...
Study links smoking with most male cancer deaths
Jan 21, 2009 |
4 / 5 (8) |
3
The association between tobacco smoke and cancer deaths — beyond lung cancer deaths — has been strengthened by a recent study from a UC Davis researcher, suggesting that increased tobacco control efforts could save more lives ...
Scientists crack gene code of common cancers
Dec 17, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
2
Two common forms of cancer have been genetically mapped for the first time, British scientists announced, in a major breakthrough in understanding the diseases.
Cigarettes harbor many pathogenic bacteria: Study
Nov 19, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (6) |
7
Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher ...
Study raises concerns about outdoor second-hand smoke
Nov 18, 2009 |
1.7 / 5 (6) |
21
Indoor smoking bans have forced smokers at bars and restaurants onto outdoor patios, but a new University of Georgia study in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that these outdoor smoking ...
US adult smoking rate rises slightly
Nov 12, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
1
(AP) -- Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.
Crushing cigarettes in a virtual reality environment reduces tobacco addiction
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 27, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Smokers who crushed computer-simulated cigarettes as part of a psychosocial treatment program in a virtual reality environment had significantly reduced nicotine dependence and higher rates of tobacco abstinence than smokers ...
Canadian tobacco firm destroyed evidence: researchers
Oct 16, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
6
Researchers said Thursday they uncovered evidence that a Canadian tobacco company destroyed scientific data it had decades ago showing that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer.
Second-hand smoking results in liver disease, study finds
Sep 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
2
A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has found that even second-hand tobacco smoke exposure can result in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common disease and rising cause ...
Doctors fear asking mentally ill to quit smoking
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Sep 09, 2009 |
not rated yet |
1
People with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are the heaviest smokers in the country, but their doctors are afraid to ask them to quit. They assume that if their patients try to quit smoking, their mental disorders ...
Growing evidence of marijuana smoke's potential dangers
Aug 05, 2009 |
2.3 / 5 (29) |
18
In a finding that challenges the increasingly popular belief that smoking marijuana is less harmful to health than smoking tobacco, researchers in Canada are reporting that smoking marijuana, like smoking ...
Both good/bad movie characters who smoke influence teens to do the same
Jul 01, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
5
Dartmouth researchers have determined that movie characters who smoke, regardless of whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys," influence teens to try smoking. The study, published in the July 2009 issue of the journal Pediatrics, is tit ...
Study: Tobacco companies changed design of cigarettes without alerting smokers
Jun 19, 2009 |
4 / 5 (8) |
23
As President Obama prepares to sign a bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of the tobacco industry, a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers shows that tobacco manufacturers ...
Cannabis alters human DNA
Jun 16, 2009 |
2.5 / 5 (32) |
41
A new study published by University of Leicester researchers has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer development in humans.
