Today 31st May, is World No Tobacco Day - Protect your heart from tobacco smoking

By Manjari Peiris

In Sri Lanka tobacco industry is owned by trans-national corporations which takes almost all of its profits to their countries in the West. Therefore the wealth is drained from a poor country to a rich country.

While the tobacco products sold is said to have decreased, the profits of the industry have increased almost tenfold within 10 years.

Even the senior citizens are taxed on their miserable  interest income plus on their medical needs, and even the poorest of the poor are heavily burdened by more and more taxes while the taxation of tobacco has not changed over 18 months. There must be a significant reason for this!

There are certain laws and regulations to control tobacco promotions and consumption, but action for monitoring  of  law enforcement is very weak.

One strategy the tobacco industry seems to adopt is to influence decision makers to  be inactive or very slow in the implementation of TC measures approved for implementation. Thus we observe several important TC related regulations  have not been  implemented/amended for years in Sri Lanka.

Governments and government institutions that exist with the cost of people's taxed money are meant to protect people. But we observe people's  money is sucked in two ways, i.e. to maintain these institutions and the tobacco industry's engagement in sucking people's blood through cigarette smoking which is detrimental to health.

It is high time to stop allowing this intentional, targeted and heartless carnage that is freely going on  right now. We understand that WNTD is not meant for one particular day, i.e. to celebrate it by authorities concerned by again wasting people's money at 5 star hotels to scratch each others' back for no creditable work whatsoever, but for show-off!

Why should I quit smoking?

Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your heart health.

If you're a smoker, stopping smoking is the single most important step you can take to protect the health of your heart, states the British Heart Federation.

Smokers are almost twice as likely to have a heart attack compared with people who have never smoked. A heart attack happens when there is a sudden loss of blood flow to a part of your heart muscle. Most heart attacks are caused by coronary heart disease. A heart attack is life-threatening and while stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your heart health, and the good news is that the risk to your heart health decreases significantly soon after your stop. By quitting you will be improving your own health by dramatically reducing your risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and a variety of cancers, as well. You will feel better, and have more money to spend on other things that you enjoy. Thus quitting has huge benefits and it is never too late to give up.

How does smoking damage your heart?

Smoking increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases,  which includes  coronary heart disease and stroke.

• Smoking damages the lining of your arteries, leading to a build up of fatty material (atheroma) which narrows the artery. This can cause  angina, a heart attack or a stroke.
• The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood. This means your heart has to pump harder to supply the body with the oxygen it needs.
• The nicotine in cigarettes stimulates your body to produce adrenaline, which makes your heart beat faster and raises your blood pressure, making your heart work harder.
• Your blood is more likely to clot, which increases your risk of having a heart attack  or stroke. 
• Raise triglycerides which is (a type of fat in your blood.
• Damage cells that line the blood vessels.
• Increase the buildup of plaque -fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances in blood vessels.
• Cause thickening and narrowing of blood vessels.

Secondhand smoke

When non-smokers breathe in secondhand smoke - also known as passive smoking - it can be harmful. Research shows that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is a cause of heart disease in non-smokers, which means you could be harming the health of your children, partner and friends.

Breathing secondhand smoke can cause coronary heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.

·         Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 early deaths from coronary heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.

·         Nonsmokers who breathe secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30 percent. Secondhand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20−30 percent.

·         Each year, secondhand smoke exposure causes more than 8,000 deaths from stroke.

·         Breathing secondhand smoke interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase your risk of having a heart attack.

·         Even briefly breathing secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood to become stickier. These changes can cause a deadly heart attack.

"The cigarette is the deadliest artifact in the history of human civilization. It is also one of the most beguiling. Thanks to more than a century of manipulation at the hands of tobacco industry chemists - the author of Golden Holocaust, Robert N. Proctor draws on reams of formerly secret industry documents to explore how the cigarette came to be the most widely used drug on the planet, selling six trillion sticks per day. He paints a harrowing picture  of tobacco manufacturers conspiring to block the recognition of health hazards of while ensnaring legions of scientists and politicians in a web of  denial."

"Smokers may think they are smoking cured tobacco leaf, but there is actually quite a bit of other stuff in  cigarettes - some of which enters just by chance. The tobacco industry doesn't like to admit it, but we know from their internal archives that unwanted filth  sometimes makes its way into cigarettes. This includes shards of metal or glass but also substances that enter through rough handling in the growing stage - dirt, sand, and pesticides, for example, but also grease from the machines and even chemicals that gas off from the cellophane." Golden Holocaust