World No Tobacco Day: Tobacco and Lung Health

May 31^st every year is celebrated as World No Tobacco Day. This initiative of World Health Organization (WHO) aims to raise awareness on the hazardous effects of tobacco and second-hand smoke exposure on human health and motivate people to quit using tobacco and tobacco products in any form.

World No Tobacco Day 2019 has its theme as “Tobacco and Lung Health”. This year’s campaign focuses on increasing awareness of:

• The adverse effect of tobacco on lung’s health, ranging from cancer to chronic respiratory issues
• The crucial role lungs play for the well-being of individuals

The campaign also focuses on drafting effective policies to minimize the consumption of tobacco and involve stakeholders in various sectors to stand up for tobacco control.

How tobacco is dangerous for the health of the lungs?

Since the World Tobacco Day 2019 is focusing on various ways in which exposure to tobacco affects lung health, it becomes crucial to know what impact it has on an individual’s lung health.

The health hazards that tobacco can cause are:

Lung cancer:  A major cause of lung cancer is smoking. It is responsible for more than 2/3rd deaths due to lung cancer, globally. Practicing second-hand smoke also increases the risk of lung cancer. It takes 10 years to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, post quitting smoking.

Chronic respiratory ailment: Tobacco consumption is the prominent cause of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It is a situation where the pus-filled mucus is formed in the lungs leading to painful cough and severe breathing difficulties. People who took up smoking at a young age are at a higher risk of developing COPD as tobacco slows down the development of the lungs. Tobacco is also responsible for exasperating asthma which leads to limited levels of activity and enhanced disability. The earlier one quits smoking, the lower the risk of progression of COPD and asthma.

Children coming in contact with smokers: Infants, who are exposed to tobacco smoke toxins, while in-utero, experience lesser lung growth and function. Maternal smoking or even exposure to second-hand smoke is dangerous for infants. Young kids who are exposed to second-hand smoke develop the risk of having asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and lower respiratory infections, often.
Around 1,65,000 children globally are estimated to die before 5 years of age due to lower respiratory infections as a result of second-hand smoke. Those who survive face the adverse health consequences of the exposure to second-hand smoke as they are at higher risk of developing COPD during adulthood.

Tuberculosis (TB): TB impairs the lungs and slows down the functionality of the lungs, which further aggravates due to tobacco consumption. Around 1/4th of the world’s population has hidden TB, which puts them at risk of developing the active disease at any time. People addicted to smoking have double the chances of falling sick with TB. TB combined with tobacco consumption enhances the risk of having impairment and death due to respiratory failure.

Air pollution: Tobacco causes indoor air pollution. Containing over 7000 chemicals, with 69 cancerous chemicals, tobacco smoke makes for a very hazardous form of indoor air pollution. The smoke might be invisible or inodorous, it can stay in the air for around 5 hours, putting people in the area at the risk of developing lung cancer, chronic respiratory ailments and minimized lung function.

Objectives of World No Tobacco Day 2019 Campaign:
The most impactful way to enhance the health of the lungs is to minimize the intake of tobacco products and second-hand smoke. But in many nations, the awareness related to the adverse impact of tobacco on the lungs, among smokers especially, is very low. Despite having concrete evidences showcasing the hazard tobacco cause to lung, the aptitude for controlling usage of tobacco to improve lung health is underrated.

The World No Tobacco Day 2019 aims at raising awareness on:

• The health hazards caused by smoking tobacco and second-hand smoke
• Effect of tobacco smoking on the health of lungs
• The extent of death and illness across the globe due to lung diseases caused by tobacco, inclusive of lung cancer, asthma, etc.
• Surfacing proofs showcasing the relationship between tobacco smoking and TB deaths
• Connotations of exposure to second-hand smoke on lung health among different age groups
• Significance of lung health on accomplishing the overall health of individuals

Fast Facts:

• Tobacco kills around half of its users.
• Tobacco is responsible for the death of around 8 million people every year. Over 7 million of those deaths are due to direct tobacco consumption whereas 1.2 million deaths are due to the exposure to second-hand smoke.
• Approximately 80% of the total smokers in the world (1.1. billion smokers) reside in low and middle-income nations.

Deaths due to second-hand smoke:

The smoke that takes up the air in spaces like restaurants, offices or other confined spaces and is caused by people burning tobacco products like cigarettes, water-pipes, cigar, etc. is called second-hand smoke. It can be very dangerous for people coming in contact with it and there is no safe level of exposure to it.

• Second-hand smoke is responsible for some severe cardiovascular and respiratory disease. These diseases include coronary heart disease and lung cancer. For infants, the situation of sudden infant death syndrome arises due to it. Pregnant women being exposed to second-hand smoke suffer from complication in pregnancy and low birth weight.
• Around half of the children are exposed to polluted air regularly as a result of the practice of smoking tobacco in public places.
• Over 1.2 million deaths occur every year due to second-hand smoke.
• Second-hand smoke is also responsible for the death of 65,000 children each year, due to the disease caused by it.

It is the right of every person to breathe pure, tobacco-smoke-free air. Smoke-free laws are there to safeguard the health and well-being of non-smokers. These do not cripple businesses and motivate smokers to quit smoking.

Around 1.4 billion people across the globe are safeguarded by extensive national smoke-free laws.

More awareness is required to be generated describing the health hazards caused by tobacco. Lung health cannot be achieved just by the absence of the disease and tobacco smoke has a major impact on lung health of smokes as well as non-smokers, on a global scale. Stricter anti-smoke laws are required to limit the use of tobacco products and controlling the use of tobacco must be a prerogative for global communities and government.

Nations should come forwards and respond to tobacco epidemic and adopt effective measures to control the adverse situation.


Turacoz Healthcare Solutions, a medical communications organization, stands in support of the ‘No Tobacco’ campaign and believes that the use of tobacco should be prohibited to achieve better lung health and well-being of people around the world.

Turacoz provides medical writing services like publication writing, scientific communication, clinical trial support, etc. To know more about Turacoz and the services, drop a mail at hello@turacoz.in