By Marlynda Meraw
BURNING, in whatever shape or form, causes a significant impact on the environment and public health. Be it man-made or from natural sources, burning, when left uncontrolled, discharges a variety of pollutants into the atmosphere.
With over 1.1 billion of the world’s population lighting up on a regular basis (as per Tobacco Atlas 2022 statistics), one has to wonder whether smokers are indirectly contributing to climate change and how such intangible insalubrious behaviour affects everyone’s health.
When a person ignites a cigarette, several things can happen at once. The smoker draws in a lungful of chemical-infused smoke, then expels it in a puff of exhaled toxic fume. The smoke swirls around the air, staining everything and everyone close by with the telltale smell of burning tobacco. The acrid air lingers on and continues to contaminate the environment long after the smoker has thrown the cigarette away.
Smoking produces widespread and severe detrimental effects on the body–from cardiovascular and respiratory to carcinogenic plus a host of health-threatening ailments.
Philip Morris International (PMI) Project Management Knowledge Integration manager Mark Bentley said that cigarette smoke is known to contain more than 6,000 chemical constituents, and within these 6,000, there are over 100 which have been classified as harmful and potentially harmful constituents, and these are toxicants that are considered to be linked with disease causation in smokers.
Public-health authorities have classified about 100 of them as causes or potential causes of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and emphysema. Besides internal health issues, smoking can also cause bad breath and tooth discolouration, two of the most obvious consequences of long-term smoking.
These negative effects don’t just impact the smoker. Non-smokers who work or live near smokers are also adversely affected by passive smoking when they inhale second-hand smoke—smoke blown out by smokers and smoke from the cigarette tip of burnt tobacco. Thus, smokers not only compromise their own health but also expose their surroundings to these risks.
Living with smokers
Living with a smoker presents myriad challenges–from health concerns, cleanliness issues to social dynamics and emotional well-being–as Andrea Percy, 27, a human resource executive, can attest.
She lives with her father who smokes cigarettes and the smell of cigarette smoke has become an issue with Andrea. She described her situation as feeling like “literally” smoking a cigarette herself. And it is especially unbearable when she uses the toilet right after her father have smoked in it.
“The smell stings my nose. It’s as if the smoke burns my insides. What’s worse is that the smoke is trapped inside the bathroom.”
Then there is the irritation of the smoke soiling the furniture, curtains and clothing.
Andrea’s concerns extend beyond odour and cleanliness. She shared one of the worst things about living with a smoker is the constant worrying about their health.
“It’s a stressful experience,” said Andrea.
Afiqah Othman is a 27-year-old civil engineer whose university years are a recollection of unpleasant memories lodging in the same dormitory with several smokers. Given the choice, she said she would never choose to live with smokers again after the harrowing experience of putting up with the “inconsiderate behaviour” of her puffing housemates.
“Half of my housemates were smoking. The bathroom stank of cheap cigarettes. The smell was disgusting. Second-hand smoke was even more disgusting, especially when it wasn’t your own doing. The smell was nauseating and made me feel like retching when I caught whiff of it.
“It was almost as if you could smell the smoker’s saliva in the air,” Afiqah cringed.
Dangers of second-hand smoke
Second-hand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a combination of smoke from the cigarette tip and the exhaled plumes that can pose great health risks. What’s even more concerning is the fact that the toxic mixtures from smoked cigarettes can linger in a space for up to two to three hours even with an open window.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that there is no safe level of second-hand smoke exposure. Even a brief exposure can cause immediate harm.
Public health authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), have also concluded that second-hand smoke contributes to a range of serious health conditions. In non-smoking adults, it has been linked to diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease while in children, it can cause asthma, respiratory infections, cough, wheezing, otitis media (middle ear infection), and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Based on NHMS 2019, conducted by the Ministry of Health (MOH), the number of Malaysian individuals exposed to second-hand smoke is higher than the number of smokers.
“The prevalence of exposure to second-hand smoke at home and at work is 32.8 percent, affecting an estimated 646,854 individuals, a population higher than the number of smokers which stands at 444,764,” the survey revealed.
What can be done?
Given the significant health and environmental risks posed by burning tobacco, the best choice for any smoker is to completely quit tobacco and nicotine products. However, many don’t. For those adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, switching to a smoke-free alternative that is scientifically substantiated to be less harmful than continued smoking could reduce the risk of harm.
Reducing tobacco-related harm at the population level depends on two factors: (1) The risk profile of the available smoke-free alternatives being significantly less than that of cigarettes, and (2) Their adoption by significant number of adult smokers.
According to PMI’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Patrick Picavet, he emphasised the real need for less harmful and less risky alternatives to smoking.
“We have to look at what is the reduction of risk for an individual and what is the reduction of harm on the population level. They both interplay with each other,” said Dr. Picavet.
While quitting smoking is the best option, unfortunately, that’s not the reality. The reality is that people will still choose to continue smoking, making it essential to offer alternatives that reduce both personal risk and population harm.
Heated tobacco products (HTPs), electronic cigarettes (vapes), nicotine patches as well as oral tobacco products have emerged as the alternative solutions that are less harmful compared to combustible cigarettes.
For instance, HTPs are designed to heat tobacco instead of burning it, generating as a result an aerosol with significantly lower levels of harmful chemicals compared with cigarette smoke. Meanwhile, e-cigarettes heat e-liquid to produce a nicotine-containing aerosol, which people usually call a vapour. By not burning tobacco, HTPs and e-cigarettes do not produce smoke nor ash and provide significantly lower levels of harmful chemicals. –DayakDaily
