Unpacking Tobacco: Facts, Dangers, and Health Impacts

1. Tobacco 1

2. Overview • Traditional tobacco • Commercial tobacco • Smokeless tobacco • Tobacco & Cancer • Tobacco & Diabetes • Tobacco & Secondhand smoke 2

3. Traditional Tobacco Stories • Many indigenous nations have traditional stories of how tobacco was introduced to their communities. • Many stories emphasized the sacredness of the plant and its powers to both heal if used properly and to harm us if used improperly! • Some say that the original tobacco was discovered about 18,000 years ago. 3

4. Traditional Tobacco Uses • Tobacco was used by our Medicine People for both healing and blessings. • Used as a smudge… to ward off pests when the people went out to hunt and gather (the original version of “OFF”) because it contains nicotine, a natural pesticide. • Given as a gift when welcoming guests to the community & as an offering to those requested to pray or share their wisdom. 4

5. Traditional Vs. Commercial Tobacco TRADITIONAL COMMERCIAL • Smoked in a pipe for ceremonial purposes • Used as an offering to a healer, elder or other person as a sign of respect or thanks • Medicinal tobacco was often used as a painkiller • Deliberate targeting of specific consumer groups • Premeditated and conscious addition of chemicals that lead to addiction • Scarcely contains actual tobacco 5

6. Commercial Tobacco Contents • 4000 Chemicals • 40 Cancer causing agents • 500 Poisons 6

7. Nicotine • Poisonous • More addictive than cocaine and heroine • So powerful that farmers can’t use it to kill insects • Legal addiction • Use results in emotional dependence • Mood leveler • Users rely on it to control emotional responses to everyday life 7

8. Carbon Monoxide • The compound in car exhaust that causes death • Causes shortness of breath • Reduces the amount of oxygen blood can carry 8

9. Tar • Sticky Residue that stains the fingers and teeth. • Contains benzopyrene, one of the deadliest cancer causing agents known. 9

10. Chemicals • Acetone: fingernail polish remover • Ammonia: floor/toilet cleaner • Cadmium: batteries • Arsenic: rat poison • Methane: cow manure fumes • Formaldehyde: preserver of dead bodies 10

11. Metals • Aluminum • Magnesium • Zinc • Silicon • Titanium • Silver • Lead • Copper • Mercury • Heavy metals 11

12. Nicotine Hard Habit to Quit • On a milligram for milligram basis, is 10 timesmore potent than heroin as an addictive substance • Smoking is an over-learned behavior • Pack/day smoker estimates • 6 doses (puffs)/cigarette • 20 cigarettes per day • = 43,800 doses per year! • Few behaviors occur more often. . . • Breathing • Blinking 12

13. Nicotine Hard Habit to Quit Withdrawal Symptoms 13

14. Tobacco Health Effects 14

15. Tobacco Health Effects 15

16. Tobacco Facts & Stats • 40% of all AN/AN deaths can be attributed to commercial tobacco use • 50% of AI/AN teens reported some type of cigarette use (highest rate in the nation, out of all ethnic populations and age groups) • 21% of AI/AN teens reported using smokeless tobacco • Teens are 3 times more likely to smoke if parent or sibling smokes 16

17. Tobacco Facts & Stats • AI/AN’s 40.8% • African Americans 22.4% • Whites 23.6% • Hispanics 16.7% • Asian American/ 13.3% Pacific Islanders 17

18. Tobacco Facts & Stats 18

19. Tobacco Facts & Stats • 85% of teenagers who smoke two or more cigarettes completely, and overcome the initial discomforts of smoking, will become regular smokers. • In a study of high school seniors, only 5% of those who smoked believed they would still be smoking two years after graduation. In fact, 75% were still smoking eight years later. • One-third to one-half of young people who try cigarettes go on to be daily smokers. 19

20. Tobacco Costs • Every pack of cigarettes sold in the U.S. costs the community $7.18 in medical care costs and lost productivity • IHS estimates $200 million is spent each year to treat tobacco related diseases • $75 billion in direct medical costs associated with tobacco use each year in U.S. • $82 billion unrealized due to loss of productivity as a result of tobacco abuse 20

21. Tobacco Individual Costs A pack a day habit… 1 Year = $1,680 10 Years = $16,800 20 Years = $33,600 21

22. Tobacco Facts & Stats “If not one single young person started smoking from this day forward these losses [more than 400,000 deaths per year] would still continue unabated for 30 years.” C. Everett Koop (US Surgeon General 1981-1989) 22

23. Smokeless Tobacco Facts & Stats • Chew, Snuff, plug, leaf, and dip are all forms of smokeless tobacco • If you hold the average-sized dip in your mouth for 30 minutes you get as much nicotine as you would from 2-3 cigarettes • American Indian teenage girls have the highest prevalence rates of spit tobacco • 43 % of Indian youth in the Northwest use spit tobacco 23

24. Smokeless Tobacco Facts & Stats • Contains 28 cancer-causing chemicals • One can of Copenhagen is equal to 3 packs of cigarettes • Snuff dippers consume on average 10 times more cancer-causing substances (nitrosamines -- chemicals from the curing process) than cigarette smokers 24

25. Effects of Smokeless Tobacco • Tooth Abrasion • Gum Disease • Gum Recession • Heart Disease and Stroke • Cancer in the mouth, pharynx (voice box), esophagus and pancreas. 25

26. Effects of Smokeless Tobacco • Increased heart rate • Increased blood pressure • Bad breath • Reduced sense of smell 26

27. Tobacco & Cancer • Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death among Indian women • Women’s death rates due to lung cancer have risen 600% since 1950 • About 90% of all lung cancer deaths are attributable to smoking • Chewing tobacco and snuff contain 28 different carcinogens 27

28. Tobacco & Cancer • Smoking is a major cause of cancers of the oropharynx (base of the tongue) and bladder among women. • Women who smoke have increased risks for cancers of the pancreas and kidney. • Larynx and esophagus cancer rates are also elevated. 28

29. Tobacco & Cancer Healthy lungs Small cell cancer in Smoker’s lung Cancerous tumor in the lung 29

30. Tobacco & Cancer • Research shows that smokers infected with human papillomavirus have greater risk of developing invasive cervical cancer than nonsmokers with the virus. • Indian women have cervical cancer rates 3.5 times the national average. Tobacco is one of the behavioral factors considered to elevate the risk of cervical cancer. 30

31. Tobacco & Diabetes • Smoking and Diabetes both reduce the amount of oxygen reaching your bodily tissues, resulting in poor circulation. • Smoking raises your blood sugar level making it harder to control your diabetes. • Of people with diabetes who need amputations, 95% are smokers. 31

32. Tobacco & Diabetes • Nicotine is a vessel constrictor, reducing the body’s blood flow. Smoking increases cholesterol levels and hardens arteries. • Diabetes increases cholesterol levels and the levels of some other fats in your blood. • The combined cardiovascular risks of smoking and diabetes is as high as 14 times those of either smoking or diabetes alone. 32

33. Tobacco & Diabetes • Together, diabetes and tobacco use make it twice as likely that you will develop heart and blood vessel disease. • People with diabetes who smoke are 3 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than are other people with diabetes. • Deaths from heart disease in women with diabetes have increased 23% over the past 30 years compared to a 27% decrease in women without diabetes. 33

34. Secondhand Smoke • Smoke breathed out by a smoker and smoke from the burning end of cigarettes, cigars, pipes • Composed of nearly 4,000 different chemicals and over 150 toxins including carbon monoxide 34

35. Children & Secondhand Smoke • 38% of children aged 2 months to 5 years are exposed to SHS in the home. • Up to 2,000,000 ear infections each year • Nearly 530,000 doctor visits for asthma • Up to 436,000 episodes of bronchitis in children under five • Up to 190,000 cases of pneumonia in children under five 35

36. Children & Secondhand Smoke • Coughing and wheezing • Asthma • Sore throats and colds • Eye irritation • Hoarseness 36

37. Pregnancy & Secondhand Smoke • Pregnant women exposed to ETS 6 hours a day pass carcinogens to the blood of unborn • ETS for 2 hours a day causes 2 times risk of low birth weight • Miscarriage • Prematurity • Low birth weight • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) 37

38. What You Can Do… • If you smoke quit as soon as possible! • Do not allow smoking inside your home or car – protect others from Secondhand smoke. • Get involved with tobacco awareness campaigns – let others know about the risk! 38

39. When You Quit… • Within 20 Minutes: • Blood pressure drops to normal • Pulse rate returns to normal • Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal • Within 8 Hours: • Carbon Monoxide level in blood drops to normal • Oxygen level in blood increases to normal • Smoker's breath disappears • Within 24 Hours: • Your chance of a heart attack decreases. • Within 48 Hours: • Nerve endings start to re-grow • Your ability to smell and taste is enhanced 39

40. When You Quit… • Within 72 Hours: • Bronchial tubes relax making it easier to breathe. • Lung capacity increases making it easier to do physical activities • Within 2 weeks - 3 months: • Circulation improves • Walking becomes easier • Lung function increases up to 30 % • Within 1 - 9 months: • Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decrease • Energy level increases • Cilia re-grow in lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean lungs, reduce infection  40

41. When You Quit… • Within One Year: • Risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker • Within Two Years: • Heart attack risk drops to near normal • Within 5 Years: • Lung cancer death rate for average pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half • Stroke risk is reduced • Risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer is half that of a smoker 41

42. When You Quit… • Within 10 Years: • Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. • The pre-cancerous cells are replaced. • Within 15 Years: • Risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a person who has never smoked. 42

43. Complete the following…… Choice of creating the following…… • A short 2 minute video on what you would like to share to the world about the “Truths about Tobacco.” • A Powerpoint on what you would like to share to the world about the “Truths about Tobacco.” • A song on (written) what you would like to share to the world about the “Truths about Tobacco.”