Production and Consumption of Cigarettes and Tobacco in the World (Capital, Trade in Death)
Hassan Abbasi
https://ourworldindata.org/smoking
The Deputy Minister of Health announced the turnover of the tobacco industry in the country at 25 trillion Tomans In Iran. Flavoured and flavoured tobaccos contain 7,000 chemicals, 70 carcinogens, and 400 toxic substances, and the trade in these types of substances is a trade in death, just as the production, sale, and exchange of industrial agricultural goods, full of pesticides and all the additives to preserve the shelf life of goods, is playing with the lives of the working masses. In Iran, about 8 million people use tobacco products, and about 65 billion cigarettes are consumed annually (statistics for 2010). Unfortunately, the age for smoking tobacco products, including hookahs, has decreased, and we are witnessing an increasing acceptance of these products by women. Regarding the activities of foreign companies producing tobacco products in Iran, the Deputy Minister of Health of the Capital Government said: “Korean, Japanese, English and American companies are engaged in producing tobacco products in Iran. Korean companies left Iran due to sanctions, but their tobacco company is still active in the country. American companies are not allowed to operate in Iran, but B.A.T. is jointly producing tobacco products in Iran in cooperation with British firms. The Japanese company G.P.I produces Winston in Iran. He announced the statistics of the development of the tobacco industry as follows: “In 2015, there were 7 tobacco producing units in the country, which increased to 23 units in 2018, which is a 4-fold growth. We have not witnessed a 4-fold growth in any industry in this period of time. Also, the number of tobacco and hookah production units in 2015 was 15 units, which has now increased to 39 units.” Now let’s look at some figures in this regard. Last year, eight international companies sold $140 billion worth of cigarettes; 8 million people die annually worldwide from the consequences of using tobacco products; in Iran, 60,000 people die annually from tobacco use; last year, Iranians smoked 65 billion cigarettes; that is, 783 cigarettes were smoked per Iranian. Of course, the tobacco market is not limited to cigarettes, and according to statistics, Iranians consumed more than 10,000 tons of hookah tobacco last year. According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, Iranians consumed a total of 65.11 billion cigarettes in 2019, which, on average, represents 783 cigarettes per capita for a population of 83 million. Of course, this number is only for cigarette consumption and does not include all tobacco products; because according to statistics, Iranians also consume 10,000 tons of hookah tobacco in the country annually, which is a significant figure in itself. Statistics from the Ministry of Health also show that last year, out of the approximately 65 billion cigarettes consumed in the country, approximately 55 billion were produced in the country and 10 billion were imported through smuggling. The presence of foreign companies in Iran is notable from this perspective, as the number of cigarette manufacturing companies in Iran in 2014 was only seven with an annual production of 29 billion cigarettes, which increased to 12 companies with 45 billion cigarettes in 2016 and to 23 companies with a production of 55 billion cigarettes in 2019. Studies also show that $855 million in foreign investment was attracted to Iran last year, of which more than half was said to be in the field of tobacco production. Capitalist production is the production of goods, and it is said that a commodity is primarily an object that satisfies some kind of human need. This need can be physical or intellectual and psychological. This commodity enters the exchange process and is transferred to another person who uses it. Capitalism, by exploiting the labour force of workers, not only produces goods but also creates the need to consume them, and this need is both physical and intellectual and psychological. Many goods were also produced in pre-capitalist economic formations. Cigarettes and tobacco are among the goods that were cultivated, harvested, packaged and presented in various forms for personal and collective consumption in close connection with the emergence and spread of industrial capitalism. If previously people exchanged the products of their labour based on the human labour necessary in it, now this entire exchange takes place between the living and dead labour of the worker, between the commodity that is his living labour and the capital that is his dead labour but is owned by someone else, the capitalist. It is capital that makes no difference to capital the type of commodity, its quantity, and the means of its production, whether the commodity is an invigorating drink or a bomb or mortar, narcotics, or tobacco that is life-threatening and deadly, as long as the product of the labour of the working man, the condensed human labour, the content of socially necessary labour time, from the sale of which it can make a profit. In the capitalist process of commodity production, the worker’s relationship to his work, to himself, to his co-workers, to life and everything around him is a relationship outside his being and between things. It is his own work that has become outside of him, alien to him, his antithesis, his god, his enemy to the teeth, the overwhelming force dominating everything about him, it is his dead work that rules over his entire being, rules over him and exercises power in economics, politics, law, civilization, thought, culture, morality, habits, creeds, rituals, tastes. In the process of production, social activities alienate man from himself and make him against himself, they make the need for capital to expand itself the need for humanity and in fact they consider this need, which is created by capital, against himself and the real needs and interests of his human life. Just as they make the forced, compulsory and inevitable sale of their labour power a free, voluntary and honourable exchange, they also make the consumption of deadly goods a free and voluntary choice.
Figure 12. Cigarette production and sales first began and increased in Western capitalist countries and Russia in the early 20th century with the onset of industrial capitalism. Since then, tobacco production has gone through a century-long cycle of peaks and declines. In this process, new social capital countries such as China, Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar with populations of several billion have had massive production and sales in this area in recent years. In the chart above, we see the average number of cigarettes sold per person over 15 years of age per day in many Western capitalist countries (including the United States and Europe), Japan, and Russia.
Figure 13 shows the percentage of countries’ populations that smoke cigarettes in 2021.
Tobacco is the common name for several plants of the subgenus Nicotiana and is also a general term for any product made using cooked tobacco leaves, such as cigarettes and cigars. Tobacco products are addictive and can be challenging to quit due to the presence of the stimulant nicotine in tobacco leaves. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco kills more than 8 million people worldwide each year, including both smokers and nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Tobacco use increases the risk of lung cancer, mouth cancer, heart disease such as high blood pressure and blood clots. Tobacco use also increases the risk of heart attack and stroke and leads to tooth and gum decay and skin wrinkles. In general, the highest rates of smoking today are found in Southeast Asia and the Balkan region of Europe. People in Western European countries and the Americas tend to reduce smoking rates, however, this is not always guaranteed and is erratic, with some societies experiencing a brief and temporary decline before consumption returns to normal. Chile has one of the highest rates of smoking in the world. Of the top five countries with the highest smoking rates in the world in 2018, three are in the Pacific Islands, one in Southeast Asia and one in South America. But the rankings are changing, with others taking the top spots. In many countries in South and Southeast Asia, smoking rates are very high for men and very low for women. For example, in Indonesia, the smoking rate for men is 76.20% and the smoking rate for women is 3.60%. However, this also varies, with European countries seeing a greater increase in smoking among women than men, while in previous decades the increase in smoking was attributed to men. The minimum smoking age in the United States is 21 years old. The smoking age was raised from 18 to 21 in December 2019. Smoking rates vary across US states, with the highest prevalence of smokers in West Virginia and the lowest in Utah. Here are the 7 countries with the highest smoking rates in 2018: Myanmar (46%), Chile (45%), Lebanon (43%), Serbia (41%), Bangladesh (39%), Greece (39%) and Bulgaria (39%). The smoking rate in Iran, according to a report to the World Health Organization, is 14% of the population (24.6% of men and 3.5% of women in 2020), or 12 million people, which contradicts the Iranian Ministry of Health’s report of 8 million people (see the report above).
Figure 14 shows lung cancer mortality rates in the United States and many other Western capitalist countries since 1950. In many countries, lung cancer mortality rates have increased, peaked, and then declined significantly during the twentieth century. These peak trends are directly related to cigarette production and consumption. In the United States, mortality rates peaked in the 1980s.
In Spain, the peak was later, only in the 1990s. In Russia and Bulgaria, the peak was in the last century. For the entire 20th century, it is estimated that about 100 million people died from smoking, most of them in Western European countries, the United States and Russia. Smoking has been one of the leading risks for premature death in the last century. Global studies by the World Health Organization estimate that about 8 million people die each year from smoking, a figure that is on the same level as the previous century. This means that about 15% of global deaths are attributable to smoking. In some countries, it is more than 1 in 5 deaths. Deaths from smoking tend to affect older people: more than half of the deaths occurred in people over 70 years of age. 93% were over 50 years of age. One reason for this is that it takes a relatively long time for the effects of smoking and even inhaling tobacco smoke to develop into serious complications. Another chart shows cigarette sales per person. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer, and we see that the trend for lung cancer is followed by a delay of about 20 years for smoking. In 2017, 7.1 million people worldwide died from smoking. We can add data on lung cancer in women in the United States to this chart. In the United States, smoking was once very common among men, so the peak incidence of lung cancer for men was much higher. Smoking later became more common among women, so the lung cancer death rate for women peaked later.
Figure 15 a. Various diseases are associated with smoking and even indirect inhalation of cigarette smoke. The annual Global Health Survey estimates that 8.5 million people die each year from tobacco use. 7.1 million of these deaths are due to smoking, 1.3 million are non-smokers who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
https://ourworldindata.org/smoking
Figure 15 b. Tobacco smoking has been one of the world’s largest health problems for decades. Over the course of the 20th century, it killed around 100 million people, most of them in today’s rich countries. The health burdens of smoking are now moving from high-income to low-to-middle-income countries; some estimates have suggested that one billion people could die from tobacco over the 21st century. (Another 56,000 people die each year from chewing tobacco.) The majority (71 percent) of those who die from tobacco use are men. It should be noted that smoking and tobacco also play a significant role in the incidence and severity of heart disease and high blood pressure. Cigarettes, pollutants and smoke, obesity, high blood sugar are among the factors that increase the risk of dementia. Researchers say that if lifestyle and nutrition patterns do not change, the global number of people with dementia will reach 153 million by 2050. A scientific study published in the Lancet journal predicts that in the next three decades, the number of people with dementia will triple the current figure. For this reason, the possibility of 153 million people developing dementia by 2025 is very high. In 2019, the number of people with dementia worldwide was 57 million. Researchers expect that in the coming decades, dementia rates will increase in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and will reach their lowest levels in Japan. For Germany, an increase of 65% is predicted, which is lower than the Western European average. According to the German Ministry of Health, 1.6 million people in the country suffer from dementia and its complications. Dementia can be caused by a variety of factors, including thyroid disorders, vitamin deficiencies, medication side effects, depression, anxiety, infections, pollutants, cigarette smoke, strokes, Parkinson’s and other medical and health problems. Dementia is commonly confused with Alzheimer’s disease, while forgetfulness is a subset of this syndrome. Dementia is currently the seventh leading cause of death worldwide and a leading cause of disability and increased need for care in the elderly. Four risk factors for dementia: An international research team has examined the prevalence and distribution of dementia in 195 countries, based on the 2019 statistical model.
The World Health Organization writes in its 2023 report:
When we look at the breakdown of deaths from smoking by age, we see that it is mainly older populations that are affected. In the visualizations, we show the death rates from smoking by age bracket and the share of annual deaths that occur in each age group.
Here, we see that death rates from smoking are much higher in people older than 70 years old, followed by those aged 50 to 69.
Around one-in-four adults in the world smoke tobacco.
But where in the world is smoking most common?
In the map, we see the share of adults aged 15 years and older who smoke tobacco.
There are a number of countries where more than a third of the population smokes. The places where many people smoke are clustered in regions. South-East Asia, the Pacific islands, and parts of Europe.
In some countries, very few people smoke.
Several factors influence the prevalence of smoking. One is prosperity: if we look at the relationship between smoking prevalence and income, we find that richer countries tend to smoke more. But as you see in this correlation, there are very large differences at each level of income. Smoking rates are high across many countries, but we know from the history of many countries that this can change quickly. Many of today’s high-income countries had much higher smoking rates in the past and have seen a large reduction. The prevalence of smoking also differs significantly between men and women. The authors of the study, examining four main factors – smoking, obesity, high blood sugar and low levels of education – estimated that better access to education could reduce the rate of dementia by six million people. Controlling obesity, high blood sugar and avoiding smoking could also eliminate the risk of developing dementia in seven million people.
According to a study published in late 2022 in the journal Alzheimer’s Disease, conducted at Ohio State University in the United States, middle-aged smokers are more likely to experience memory loss and mental confusion than their peers. Although the respiratory and cardiovascular effects of smoking were previously known, it seems that its consequences for human cognitive abilities are not insignificant. The study by scientists at Ohio State University is the first to examine the relationship between smoking and cognitive impairment by asking participants a single question. Participants were asked whether they had recently experienced a worsening of memory problems and confusion. The findings, by scientists at Ohio State University, are published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
In the second volume of the series “Capitalism and the Disaster of Environmental Pollution, Chapter 4”, I spoke in some detail about the destructive effects of pollutants on the brain, its anatomy and mechanism. The data from those years are still valuable as a source of study in their own right, but in recent years, and especially in 2022, similar studies around the world show the dimensions of these disasters to be greater than what has been said so far. Let’s examine some of this data. A study published in February 2022 of 30,000 men found that the ability of sperm to swim in the right direction can be affected by air pollution. The researchers said that the smaller the size of the airborne pollutants, the lower the quality of sperm and their mobility. “Our findings suggest that smaller pollutants may be more effective than larger pollutants in causing impaired sperm motility,” the paper states. For this study, researchers at Tongji University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China, studied data from 33,876 men from 340 cities in the country, with an average age of 34, between January 2013 and December 2019. The main question asked was whether the participants had been exposed to particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres, 2.5 to 10 micrometres, and larger than 10 micrometres in the 90 days before the test. The researchers then focused on sperm count, concentration and motility. Although the researchers were unable to find a significant association between air pollution and sperm quality in terms of count or concentration, they did find that the more exposure a participant had to fine particulate matter, the less progressive the sperm’s motility, or ability to swim forward. Specifically, for someone exposed to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres, sperm motility decreased by 3.6 percent, compared with 2.42 percent for those exposed to particles smaller than 10 micrometres. This means that different sizes of airborne pollutants may have different effects on semen quality, and it is likely that the smaller the particles, the more likely they are to penetrate deep into a man’s lungs. “The results of the association between air pollution and semen quality are striking because they use sperm quality data from more than 30,000 men,” said Alan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Another study published in late February of this year showed that air pollution causes inflammation in the brain, which reduces sperm count in the body. In this study, conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States, researchers conducted experiments on a group of laboratory mice and found that healthy mice exposed to polluted air had lower sperm counts than mice that did not have certain neuroinhibitory. Scientists say about 92 percent of the world’s population lives in areas where levels of particulate matter in the air exceed minimum safety standards set by the World Health Organization. Particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter are created by greenhouse gases from factories, forest fires or wood stoves, or incomplete combustion in cars. In this study, two groups of healthy mice and mutant mice bred to lack a marker of inflammation in the brain (IKK2) were exposed to polluted air. After monitoring them and performing tests, the researchers recorded no decrease in the sperm count of the second group of mice. This was while the healthy mice experienced a decrease in sperm count after exposure to air pollution. Researchers say a specific type of neuron, which is normally involved in sleep cycles and obesity, is responsible for the drop in sperm count caused by air pollution. These neurons are usually found in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls hunger, thirst and sexual desire. The hypothalamus also works with the pituitary gland in the brain, which is responsible for making hormones that are directly related to the reproductive organs. “Looking at past research, it makes perfect sense to assume that hypothalamic neurons are responsible for perpetuating this inflammatory response leading to reduced sperm count,” says Dr. Charles Hong, professor of medicine and director of cardiovascular research at the University of Maryland. “Because we know that the hypothalamus is a major communication pathway between the brain and the reproductive system.” Scientists say the new findings have implications beyond fertility, and that many conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, can be caused by inflammation in the brain due to air pollution. Scientists already knew that there could be links between air pollution and an increased risk of a number of disorders, from obesity to diabetes and fertility. The origin of these disorders has largely been determined to be stress messages sent by the brain, but until now, the details of how this was done had not been observed. Studies in recent decades have shown a decrease in sperm counts in men, and researchers have carried out several research projects to find out why this happens. New research published in June 2022 on male urine shows that a significant increase in chemical pollutants is one of the main reasons for the decline in sperm count in men. The latest research on the factors affecting the decline in male sperm count was published in the journal Environment International. The study, which examined urine samples from nearly 100 male volunteers, found that men’s endocrine disruptors had reached alarming levels. A problem that reduces fertility in humans. In examining these samples, it was found that chemical pollutants such as bisphenols and dioxins that affect sperm quality were observed up to 100 times higher than normal. The authors of the paper say that the presence of these chemical cocktails has a significant negative impact on male reproductive health. The study was conducted on urine samples from 98 Danish men aged 18 to 30. In addition, data from the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) was used to estimate the possible levels of 20 other chemicals. The authors of the paper, led by Professor Andreas Kortenkamp from Brunel University London, say they were surprised by the significant levels of these chemical compounds in the samples. They were also surprised by the amount of bisphenol BPA in the samples tested, a substance that is considered a very serious risk to sperm health. Reduced sperm count: Sperm quantity and quality have declined dramatically in Western countries in recent decades, with research showing that sperm counts in men have more than halved in the space of 40 years. Meanwhile, other reproductive health disorders, such as undescended testicles and testicular cancer, are on the rise. Researchers around the world have considered a wide range of other possible causes behind low sperm counts, including lifestyle factors, tobacco use and air pollution.