TOBACCO

Tobacco is a product prepared from the leaves of the tobacco plant by curing them.

Tobacco contains the alkaloid nicotine, which is a stimulant, and harmala alkaloids.[2] Dried
tobacco leaves are mainly used for smoking in cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and
flavored shisha tobacco. They can also be consumed as snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping
tobacco and snus.

TYPES OF TOBACCO
Cigarettes
The basic components of most cigarettes are tobacco, a filter, and paper wrapping. Although
smokers use cigarettes to get nicotine, they are exposed to toxic and cancer-causing chemicals
that are created when the cigarette is burned.

Cigars, Little Cigars, Cigarillos

Generally, cigars are cured tobacco wrapped in leaf tobacco or a substance containing tobacco.

cigars are less addictive and present fewer health risks than cigarettes.

Electronic Cigarettes (Also Referred to as: Vape Pen, e-Hookah, Hookah Pen)
Electronic cigarettes often resemble traditional cigarettes but they use a heat source, usually
powered by a battery, to turn “e-liquid,” a liquid that usually contains nicotine from tobacco and
flavorings, into an aerosol that is inhaled by the user.

Traditional Smokeless Tobacco Products

There are two main types of smokeless tobacco that have been traditionally marketed in the
United States: chewing tobacco and moist snuff. Chewing tobacco is cured tobacco in the form of
loose leaf, plug, or twist. Snuff is finely cut or powdered, cured tobacco that can be dry, moist, or
packaged in sachets. Snus is a finely ground moist snuff that can be loose or packaged. Most
smokeless tobacco use involves placing the product between the cheek or lip and the gum.

Waterpipes (Also Referred to as: Hookah, Shisha, Narghile, Argileh)

Waterpipes (also known as hookah, shisha, narghile, or argileh) are used to smoke specially
made tobacco that comes in a variety of flavors like mint, cherry and licorice. Waterpipe smoking
delivers the addictive drug nicotine and the smoke from a waterpipe is at least as toxic as, or
more toxic than cigarette smoke
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF TOBACCO
The following major components of tobacco smoke have been identified as most
likely to cause disease:

Tar
'Tar' describes the particulate matter inhaled when the smoker draws on a lighted
cigarette.
Nicotine
Nicotine appears to be the most important acute-acting pharmacological agent in
tobacco smoke, and is the drug in tobacco which causes addiction among
smokers. Its immediate physiological effects include increased heart rate and blood
pressure, constriction of cutaneous blood vessels, and muscular, hormonal and
metabolic effects. With prolonged exposure, it may contribute, in combination with
carbon monoxide, to increased platelet stickiness and aggregation and damage to
the lining of the blood vessels, suggesting a potential role in causing coronary
disease. It is also implicated in the causation of reproductive and gastrointestinal
disorders. Although nicotine does not appear to possess direct carcinogenic activity
itself, it enables the formation of tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are potent
carcinogens.Nicotine is among the most toxic of all poisons and acts with great
speed.
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odourless, tasteless gas, giving no warning of its
presence in most circumstances. In large amounts it is rapidly fatal.
Nitrogen oxides
Cigarette smoke contains oxides of nitrogen in relatively high levels.
Hydrogen cyanide and other ciliatoxic agents
Hydrogen cyanide has a direct, deleterious effect on the cilia, part of the natural
lung clearance mechanism in humans
Radioactive compounds
The radioactive compounds found in highest concentration in cigarette smoke are
polonium-210 and potassium-40.
Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act
The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation
of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 or COTPA, 2003 is
an Act of Parliament of India enacted in 2003 to prohibit advertisement of, and to provide for the
regulation of trade and commerce in, and production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and
other tobacco products in India. This Act was enacted by the Parliament to give effect to the
Resolution passed by the 39th World Health Assembly, urging the member states to implement
measures to provide non-smokers protection from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke.

Section 4: “No person shall smoke in any public place: Provided that in a hotel having thirty rooms or
a restaurant having seating capacity of thirty persons or more and in the airports, a separate
provision for smoking area or space may be made.”

Section 6: “No person shall sell, offer for Sale or permit sale of, cigarettes or any other tobacco
product

a) To any person who is under eighteen years of age, and” “No person shall sell, offer for Sale or
permit sale of, cigarettes or any other tobacco product

- b) In an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational institution.”

Section 7 : “ no person can produce, supply, distribute or import any tobacco product unless
every tobacco product package carries a specified warning including a pictorial warning as may
be prescribed by the rules”.