tobacco
• WHO: Governments must shield young people from manipulative tendencies of tobacco firms
• CAPPA welcomes NFVCB advocacy, wants ban on tobacco promotion extended to digital media
• ‘Over five million young Nigerians at risk of addiction, cancer’
• ‘75% of global deaths occurring in developing countries’
As Nigeria joins the rest of the global community to mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), the World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed its concerns over the harmful influences of the tobacco industry on youth, just as it says an estimated 75 per cent of global deaths from tobacco smoking is reported in developing countries.
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The WNTD is marked every May 31, and this year, WHO and public health champions from across the globe are coming together to advocate for an end to the targeting of youth with harmful tobacco products, while urging governments to adopt policies that shield young people from the manipulative practices of the tobacco and related industries.
Though WHO acknowledges that cigarette smoking has decreased over the years due to phenomenal efforts by the tobacco control community, according to recent data, worldwide, at least 37 million young people aged 13–15 years use some form of tobacco.
Of the above figure, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has disclosed that about five million young Nigerians aged 15 to 25 out of over 20 million chain smokers are already addicted, endangering their overall health.
To stem the tide, the body is teaming up with stakeholders in the entertainment industry and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to regulate the promotion and glamourisation of tobacco and nicotine products in movies, musical videos, and skits .
Leading the charge of a Smoke-Free Nollywood, the NFVCB Executive Director, Dr. Shaibu Hussieni, emphasised the need for ambitious actions from all stakeholders to protect young people from harmful content. He stated that the Board, in collaboration with CAPPA, has developed a subsidiary regulation to cater to smoking in movies, as this aspect was not explicitly addressed in the extant law.
While tobacco contains a highly addictive stimulant alkaloid known as nicotine, dried tobacco leaves are mainly used for smoking in cigarettes and cigars, as well as pipes and shishas. They can also be consumed as snuff and contain a risk factor for many deadly diseases, especially those affecting the heart, liver, and lungs.
According to research, most tobacco use begins in adolescence, causing dependence and prolonged use, and accounts for more than eight million deaths worldwide every year. It is projected that these deaths may reach 10 million by 2030 if optimal control measures are not implemented mostly in low- and middle-income countries where the high burden of tobacco use is due to an ongoing transition from tobacco production to tobacco consumption.
Despite significant progress in reducing tobacco use, the emergence of e-cigarettes and other new tobacco and nicotine products presents a grave threat to youth and tobacco control. Studies demonstrate that e-cigarette use increases conventional cigarette use, particularly among non-smoking youth, by nearly three times.
However, poor regulations and tobacco industry interference remain the greatest barriers to reducing global tobacco use, influencing the government to make cigarettes cheap for consumers, make newer products more easily available and weaken restrictions on marketing to the detriment of public health.
The WHO and STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog, earlier this week, launched a report highlighting how the tobacco and nicotine industry targets youth for a lifetime of profits, creating a new wave of addiction through product designs, marketing campaigns and works to shape policies to help turn the world’s youth into addicts.
Observations by The Guardian have seen a lot of young people, including minors, smoking all kinds of cigarettes purchased with ease at various roadside shops and kiosks at different locations in Lagos. While some of these smokers who were questioned claim it relaxes them, others say it’s a harmless lifestyle flex.
Findings have also shown that clubs around the country serve these nicotine variants in various flavours enticing young people into believing they are harmless; thereby endangering the lives of many and increasing the chances of tobacco-related diseases in the future.
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WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, raised the alarm that the industry continues to rebrand and upgrade its products, marketing to young people with enticing flavours like candy and fruit.
He said: “History is repeating, as the tobacco industry tries to sell the same nicotine to our children in different packaging. These industries are actively targeting schools, children and young people with new products that are essentially a candy-flavoured trap. How can they talk about harm reduction when they are marketing these dangerous, highly addictive products to children?
“These deceptive tactics highlight the urgent need for strong regulations to protect young people from a lifetime of harmful dependence and WHO urges governments to protect young people from the uptake of tobacco, e-cigarettes and other nicotine products by banning or tightly regulating these products,” he said.
To commemorate this year’s WNTD, themed: ‘Protecting children from tobacco industry interference’, The Guardian engaged experts to educate the public, especially the youth on the dangers of smoking cigarettes and other related substances.
The Executive Director of CAPPA, Oluwafemi Akinbode, noted that although there are relevant laws in the country for tobacco regulation, the implementation is still not satisfactory as minors are still able to access these products with ease.
He stated that tobacco is a contributing factor to non-communicable diseases-related deaths in Nigeria as close to 25 per cent of deaths in Nigeria in Nigeria are attributable to non-communicable diseases.
He decried the influx of new tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes, waterpipes (also known as hookah), narghile, and shisha among others and urged the government to place a maximum restriction on them as they are serving as gateway products to get people hooked on tobacco. “We need to protect our children and the future generation.”
He therefore urged the Federal government to enforce all the existing laws and increase taxes on tobacco products to 70 per cent of the final retail price.
He noted that the last data showed that about 6.5 per cent of Nigerians, representing about 20 million people are into cigarette smoking.
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According to him, though Nigeria has the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Regulation Act 2019, the recent restriction of smoking in movies by the NFVCB will go a long way in reducing the platform for recruiting young people into smoking.
“One of the biggest measures is taxation, we have always asked the government to increase taxes on tobacco products as a way of driving down consumption, we want this government to look at increasing the taxes on tobacco products to the extent that it will affect the prices of packs to achieve the impact.”
Describing the prevalence of cancer developments in the country due to smoking, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Dr. Donald C. Aniekwe, said smoking cigarettes ultimately kills and about 85 to 90 per cent of cases of lung cancer is directly linked to smoking cigarettes.
The surgeon explained that there has been a notable increase in the number of young people diagnosed with health conditions due to tobacco use and this is due to the rise in ‘vaping’ and electronic cigarettes. He also pointed out that there is an increase in heart-related conditions, stroke and extreme cases of asthma among young people.
“The numbers have increased, resulting to issues like respiratory problems, which might include chronic bronchitis and terrible exacerbation of asthma that are now common in young people. People who are vaping and using tobacco in any form can also develop cardiovascular problems. This goes without saying, if you are smoking; you are not going to damage just your lungs but also your heart. Early signs of this include elevated blood pressure, which we see more in young people these days, stroke in young people has also increased and there is an increase in mental problems because of nicotine addiction, usually one addiction will breed more addictions,” he said.
Aniekwe illustrated that a single cigar stick is associated with a lot of carcinogens and that the presence of nicotine in cigars increases the chances of dependence and addiction. He continued that people who are usually around smokers are equally liable to develop cancers related to tobacco use.
On his part, an infectious disease expert at the Department of Microbiology Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, noted that cigarette smoking is still prevalent in Nigeria despite efforts to reduce it through policies and regulations because of limited awareness about the health risks associated with smoking.
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Kolawole stated that tobacco use significantly shortens life expectancy and degrades the quality of life. “It damages the respiratory system, leading to chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking also elevates the risk of stroke and various cancers, such as those of the mouth, throat, and bladder. It impairs the immune system, reduces overall health, and can lead to premature death. Additionally, smoking during pregnancy can harm fetal development, causing low birth weight and other complications.”
Kolawole lamented that despite regulations, tobacco advertising can still reach young people through indirect channels such as movies and music videos, adding that social media often glamorise smoking, making it seem appealing and fashionable.
The university don pointed out that young people may start smoking due to peer pressure or a desire to experiment and rebel, and once they start, nicotine addiction can make quitting difficult.
He stated that apart from cigarettes, young people in Nigeria are increasingly turning to other substances, including Marijuana (Cannabis), Shisha (Hookah), alcohol, codeine, tramadol, and other synthetic drugs like Methamphetamine or Ecstasy.
Similarly, a doctor at the Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta, Dr. Olusina Ajidahun, explained that smoking at a younger age increases the chances of developing cancers later in life.
“The longer the exposure to these substances, the higher the risk. When the cell keeps getting exposed to smoke, it triggers what we call carcinogenesis which is the formation stage of having cancer and a lot of things happen during the cell cycle increasing the risk of mutation and cancer occurrence.”
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Affirming that a lot of minors engage in tobacco use, the president, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, Prof. Taiwo James Obindo, said there has been an increase in the number of smokers and although a national survey needs to be carried out to determine this; many youths smoke early due to peer pressure.
“We should first of all conduct a national survey because that will help us determine the figure because the last survey was done in 2006 and the figures must have changed since then,” he said.
The professor highlighted abuse, dependence and harmful use of the substance as some of the psychological implications of smoking, noting that those who become dependent on tobacco would later develop mental health conditions that would require medical treatment.
Pointing how the industry profits from youth addiction, Director, STOP at Vital Strategies, Jorge Alday, said: “Addicted youth represent a lifetime of profits to the industry, that’s why the industry aggressively lobbies to create an environment that makes it cheap, attractive and easy for youth to get hooked. If policymakers don’t act, current and future generations may be facing a new wave of harms, characterized by addiction to and use of many tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes.”
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