Increasing number of young tobacco users is astonishing

Aug 15, 2017 News

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– Chronic Diseases Coordinator

With an increasing number of tobacco users, especially young people within the education system, there is immense cause for concern. This was the acknowledgement of Chronic Diseases Coordinator within the Public Health Ministry,

Dr. Kavita Singh.
Dr. Singh was at the time making reference to the revelations of the 2015 Guyana Youth Tobacco Survey [GYTS] which was officially released last week. She pointed out that although the Public Health Ministry has achieved success when it comes to monitoring tobacco use among youths, the numbers that seem to gravitate to the product cannot be taken for granted.
“Our figures have astonishingly increased, which is a cause for concern as it relates to youth smokers, because we do know the youth smokers between the ages of 13 and 15 will become our adult smokers and future smokers of the world, and no doubt Guyana,” said Dr. Singh.
Based on the findings of the GYTS, which targeted students within public schools, one in every three students had used tobacco products at some point. Of these, almost one in every six currently uses tobacco products; one in every nine was a current smoker of tobacco products with boys using twice as often as girls, and one in every 12 being a current cigarette smoker, with boys smoking three times more than girls.
According to Dr. Singh, here in Guyana, chronic non-communicable diseases [NCDs] account for 68 percent of Guyana’s premature mortality – that is, death before the age of 70. In fact the public health sector had long linked tobacco use to NCDs.
“So it is indeed clear that tobacco smoking is a problem for us. It is one of the cross-cutting risk factors that is related to the onset of non-communicable diseases, not only in Guyana, but worldwide,” Dr. Singh asserted.
It has been made clear too that while tobacco, which is a plant grown for its leaves, is contained in cigarettes, there are other forms in which it can be used.
According to a report published by the National Institute for Drug Abuse [NIDA] in Maryland, United States, “People can smoke, chew, or sniff tobacco. Smoked tobacco products include [regular] cigarettes, cigars, bidis [small, thin hand-roll cigarettes], and kreteks [cigarettes made with a blend of tobacco, cloves and other flavours]. Some people also smoke loose tobacco in a pipe or hookah [water pipe].”
It was pointed out that the tobacco leaf is first dried and fermented before being put into tobacco products. However, it is the nicotine contained in tobacco that causes people to become addicted, thereby increasingly putting them, and others exposed to its smoke, at various health risks.
According to NIDA, apart from the addictive nature of the nicotine in tobacco, most of the severe health effects of tobacco use come from other chemicals. As such, tobacco smoking can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis [one type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], and emphysema [a lung condition that causes shortness of breath]. It is also known to increase the risk of heart disease, which can lead to stroke or heart attack.
Tobacco smoke has also been linked to leukemia, other cancers, cataracts, and pneumonia.
“All of these risks apply to use of any smoked product, including hookah tobacco. Smokeless tobacco increases the risk of cancer, especially mouth cancers,” NIDA has outlined.
It was further pointed out by NIDA that the nicotine in any tobacco product readily absorbs into the blood when a person uses it. Upon entering the blood, nicotine immediately stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone epinephrine [adrenaline].
Added to this, NIDA has revealed that “Epinephrine stimulates the central nervous system and increases blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate. As with drugs such as cocaine and heroin, nicotine increases levels of the chemical messenger dopamine which affects parts of the brain that controls reward and pleasure. Studies suggest that other chemicals in tobacco smoke, such as acetaldehyde, may enhance nicotine’s effects on the brain.”
The GYTS, which is engineered by the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was first introduced to countries of the world in 1999. Its main aim, according to Dr. Singh, is to monitor tobacco policies and control measures as it relates to youth smokers around the world.
Guyana, through its Ministries of Health and Education, has thus far undertaken four rounds of the survey [2000, 2004, 2010 and 2015] and it is anticipated that this process will continue to ascertain to what degree measures must be implemented to help reduce the daunting impact of tobacco use.
Speaking of the troubling use of tobacco among youths recently, Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, considered that “many of our students at the schools are unaware of the dangers of tobacco and have been using it as early as seven years old.’
Even as she stressed that there is a great deal of work to be done to address this dilemma, Minister Cummings assured, “we will be looking back at our Health Promotion Strategy…we will be working with the Ministry of Education so that we can, through the Health and Family Life Education programme, let our students know of the dangers of tobacco use.”

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