World No Tobacco Day 2025: Unmasking the Tobacco Appeal

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Each year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, what the WHO is doing, and what people worldwide can do to claim their right to healthy living and protect future generations.  

The Member States of the World Health Organisation created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes. 

As part of this year’s celebration, DUBAWA delves into the health dangers associated with smoking Tobacco.

What is Tobacco?

Tobacco is a plant with leaves that have high levels of the addictive chemical nicotine. After harvesting, tobacco leaves are cured, aged, and processed in various ways. The resulting products may be smoked in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes, applied to the gums as dipping and chewing tobacco, or inhaled as snuff.

Nicotine affects the brain to create a relaxing, pleasurable feeling, which makes quitting challenging. It travels down the airways, into the lungs, and into the bloodstream, where it reaches the brain and other organs.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 7 million people die each year from using tobacco. About 1.2 million individuals die from secondhand smoke.

Health dangers associated with smoking Tobacco

Smoking cigarettes can kill, but before it does, people can experience some terrible diseases and health conditions from smoking.

1. Lung cancer: Smoking causes nearly 90% of all lung cancer cases, which has a low 5-year survival rate of just 26.7%.

2. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: About 85–90% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases are caused by smoking. It leads to severe breathing issues and limits daily activities.

3. Heart disease: Smoking damages arteries, restricting blood flow and oxygen to the heart. It’s a major contributor to heart disease, the leading cause of death in the world.

4. Stroke: Smoking increases stroke risk by damaging blood vessels. A stroke can cause paralysis, speech problems, and death.

5. Asthma: Smoke irritates airways and worsens asthma, which affects nearly 28 million Americans.

6. Women’s reproductive health: Smoking raises the risk of ectopic pregnancy and reduces fertility. Smoking during pregnancy can also result in premature birth or low birth weight, increasing infant health risks.

7. Type 2 Diabetes: Smokers are 30–40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and face more complications if they already have it.

8. Vision loss: Smoking damages the eyes and is a major cause of blindness, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration.

9. Other cancers: Smoking is also linked to more than 10 other cancers, including colon, cervical, liver, stomach, and pancreatic cancer.

What smoking does to your body

Smoking affects everything from the appearance of the skin and nails to how the tissues, organs, and even the DNA work. 

The heat from burning the cigarette releases nicotine and creates tar (tobacco residue). The tar stains your nails as you bring the cigarette to your lips. The smoke also dries out and inflames the skin, deepening wrinkles. Inhaling smoke through the nose damages nerve endings. Over time, this reduces the sense of smell.

A puff from the cigarette goes through a filter. This mostly keeps you from breathing in large particles, but tar, nicotine, and other chemicals still get through. The tar stains the teeth and coats the gums and tongue. It damages the tooth enamel, puts you at risk for tooth decay and gum disease, and reduces the ability to taste foods you love.

Tar coats your throat and vocal cords as it moves toward your lungs. Travelling through your airways, tar and hydrogen cyanide (a poisonous gas) paralyse your cilia. 

Damaged cilia increase your risk of contracting respiratory infections.

When smoke reaches the lungs, it damages the small air sacs (alveoli) and blood cells, depriving the tissues of oxygen. This triggers inflammation and mucus buildup, making breathing even more difficult.

While travelling through your bloodstream, nicotine damages the lining of your blood vessels. This thickens and narrows them, and causes blood cells to stick to them, putting you at risk for blood clots, heart attack, and stroke. For men, decreased circulation can make it difficult to get an erection (erectile dysfunction).

Once cigarette smoke enters the bloodstream, its harmful chemicals spread throughout the body, causing damage to multiple organs and systems. Due to reduced calcium absorption, bones become thinner and more brittle, and toxins and low oxygen harm the eyes, increasing the risk of vision loss.

Smoking weakens the immune system, making you more prone to illness and autoimmune diseases, and hormones are disrupted, affecting fertility. DNA is damaged by toxic substances like arsenic and polonium, raising the risk of cancer and fertility issues.

Nicotine also quickly reaches your brain, triggering feel-good chemicals like dopamine and adrenaline, creating a brief moment of happiness. But once processed by the liver and excreted, the body craves more, leading to withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. Over time, you develop a tolerance, increasing your dependence.

How to Quit  Smoking 

There is no set timeline for quitting smoking. Some people can kick their habit on the first try, while many others will struggle with quitting. On average, a new habit can take 66 days to become automatic.

There are plenty of ways to curb your cravings and urges. Some include:

Quit cold turkey: This means cutting all nicotine products abruptly. Quitting cold turkey may seem daunting and might not be the right choice for everyone. However, given the damage smoking does to your body, getting it over and done with may have its appeal.

Use nicotine replacement therapy: Try over-the-counter methods like nicotine patches, lozenges, or gum. You can also talk to your doctor about prescription nicotine that comes in a nasal spray or inhaler. There is non-nicotine medication you can take, as well, like bupropion and varenicline.

Lifestyle changes: Change your daily habits, exercise, relax, eliminate reminders, and get support systems. 

It may be tough at first to fight off those cravings. You may experience withdrawal symptoms within the first few days, like moodiness, irritability, and headaches, as your body gets used to not having nicotine. However, once you stop smoking, you will notice a positive change in your health. 

Your lung function will improve, and you will see a decrease in the number of times you cough and have shortness of breath.

Conclusion 

Smoking is a highly addictive and harmful habit that damages nearly every part of the body. Toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke harm the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and other organs, leading to severe health conditions. To protect your health and quality of life, the best choice is to quit smoking or never start.