By Eulalee Thompson 
"As it was reported almost 10 years ago in a risk behaviour survey, the prevalence of tobacco smoking in Jamaica has been estimated as 36 per cent among males and 11 per cent among females, 15 to 49 years,"
Dr. Manuel Pena, PAHO/WHO
representative, Jamaica.
MANY PEOPLE who smoke often believe that it is just a bad habit; they often do not realise that they have become physically dependent on the nicotine, a drug found in cigarettes. It will only take a few seconds after a puff of one's favourite brand of cigarette for this powerfully-addictive drug to travel to the brain, initiating the process of addiction.
Nicotine is not the only substance in the smoke the scientists have identified more than 4,000 substances in the smoke, most of them are, of course, toxic.
The smoke from cigarette have been strongly associated, in various epidemiologic studies to disease. And it is not only the smoker who is at risk but other people in the environs the passive smokers.
The newly-formed anti-smoking lobby group, the Jamaica Coaliton for Tobacco Control, chaired by Dr. Knox Hagley, have compiled some of the findings of these studies:
About 80 per cent of persons with lung cancer, for example, have been smokers and in Jamaica, the incident rates for lung cancer are about five times higher for men than women. The rates, as indicated by the 1978 - 1997 Jamaica Cancer Register, are 21.1 per 100,000 for men versus 3.9 per 100,000 for women.
Tissues bathed by tobacco smoke, such as the pharynx and larynx are also at high risk for the development of malignancies.
Carcinogenic agents inhaled into the lung enter the blood stream and contribute to the development of cancers in other organs, including the pancreas, kidney, bladder and cervix.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema), is in the vast majority of cases a smoker's disease.
Chronic peptic ulcer disease though not regarded as a smoker's disease, runs a much more severe course among smokers.
The smoking of tobacco may result in increased severity of bronchial asthma, increased tendency to clotting of blood, interference of the body's immune response and other adverse effects on physiological functions for example, a rise in blood pressure.
The Coalition believes that there is good reason to believe that cigarette smoking is contributing to the increasing incidence of coronary heart disease in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. Cigarette smoking accelerates the atherosclerotic process and is regarded as a high-risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Other disorders resulting from atherosclerosis such as strokes and peripheral vascular disease leading to gangrene, are also commoner among smokers, the research studies are indicating.
