Eualee Thompson THE CIGARETTE industry's top scientist, Dr. Chris Proctor says they are not about persuading people to smoke, instead they are about offering quality brands to adults who have made the decision to smoke. Smoking, he said recently at a media seminar held in Trinidad and Tobago, should only be for adults who are aware of the risks.
Dr. Proctor, the scientist from the England-based British American Tobacco (BAT) (to which Carreras Group in Jamaica and West Indian Tobacco in Trinidad are affiliated) agrees with the findings of health authorities such as the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the "pleasures of cigarette smoking" come with real risks of serious diseases such as lung cancer, respiratory disease and heart disease.
The tobacco industry says however, statistics gained from epidemiological studies, do not tell if a particular individual smoker will avoid an associated disease by smoking less and are also unable to predict what will happen to an individual who smokes. Science, he also said, is still unable to determine which smokers will get a smoke-related disease and which ones will not. The industry is therefore questioning the scientific basis of epidemiological (or population) studies that define lifetime risks for disease in particular groups. The tobacco industry also has a different opinion from PAHO on the issue of passive (or environmental) smoking. Science, Dr. Proctor said, cannot prove there are risks to non-smokers from passive smoke. He cited a 1986 WHO study and said it reported no meaningful increase in lung cancer risk for individuals growing up, living, working, travelling or socialising with a smoker.
"The WHO says this study supported an increased risk, a conclusion that we believe is hard to arrive at based on the findings," Dr. Proctor said.
With mounting class action suits against the industry to recover health care costs and multi-billion dollar payouts to smokers, especially in the United States, the industry also says that the issue of smoking is being politicised and demonised.
"While society is moving towards inclusion and the removal of discrimination against those who have made unique lifestyle choices, more and more smokers are being ostracised. Smokers are finding it difficult to enjoy their pastime in their societies. They are discriminated against in their jobs, in their application for certain services and even in their favourite pubs and bars," said Keith Carter, Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Manager of Trinidad's West Indian Tobacco Company.
Heather Seline, PAHO/WHO, Washington representative said however, epidemiological studies are based on debate, publications, a large body of information and peer review. She stressed that the health effects of smoking have been established for decades. About 845,000 people die each year in the Americas as a result of tobacco use, according to Dr. Seline. Further, tobacco use is responsible for one-third of all heart disease, one-third of all cancers and a great proportion of respiratory problems. One-half of all long-term smokers, she said, will die from a smoke-related illness.
While the tobacco industry states that nicotine disappears from the system in three minutes and has mild pharmacological effects, Dr. Seline says nicotine is the drug in cigarette that causes addiction and even after it passes through the system, the nicotine receptor stays, changes the brain and makes people continue to crave nicotine.
