Delayed Tobacco Control law irks Prof Fastone Matthew Goma

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Delayed ‘Tobacco Control Law’ irks Prof Fastone Matthew Goma

By DERRICK SINJELA and Citizen Journalist SAEED SIMON BANDA

Zambia Tobacco Control Consortium (ZTCC) President reiterated optimism that the forthcoming sitting of Parliament will see Health Minister, Sylvia Tembo-Masebo table the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for domestication.

Though 14 years has passed since it’s ratification, Professor Goma remains optimistic that Ms. Tembo-Masebo will table a Cabinet Memorandum to facilitate eventual presentation to the Zambian Parliament.

In a Monday, 31st May, 2022 Press Briefing at Lusaka’s Belvedere Lodge, on the occasion commemorating the WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2022 themed-TOBACCO: A Threat to the Environment
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), Zambia commemorated global campaign initiated in 1987 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring attention to the harms of tobacco use.

“The theme for this year is, “Tobacco: Threat to Our Environment.” The Centre for Primary Care Research, Lusaka, takes this opportunity to describe some of the research that has been conducted in collaboration with international colleagues on the economic, environmental, and human health impacts of tobacco and tobacco use. Tobacco Use and Tobacco Growing: The double edged assault on the Zambian environment and a looming disaster,” said Goma, PhD, a Professor of Physiology and Cardiovascular Health.

Reiterating a concern raised time without number, Professor Goma laments that tobacco claims over 8 million lives every year the world over including 7,400 in Zambia.

“This includes 1.2 million who die as a result of second hand-smoke. The country loses close to K2.8 billion in revenue per year due to health related effects and much more is being lost in environmental degradation due to agricultural activities going on in 5 regions of Zambia. For decades, the tobacco industry has sought to greenwash its reputation and portray itself as an environmentally-friendly industry. Truth be told, tobacco is a major contributor to environmental pollution contributing significantly to global climate change. Climate change causes more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather, such as heat waves, drought and flash floods,” noted Professor Goma.

On Tobacco Use and Air Pollution, Prof. Goma explained that
the WHO reports that ‘Air Pollution’ causes approximately 7 million deaths annually, including more than 3 million as a result of heart disease.

Furthermore, Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 substances, most of them extremely toxic to humans and animal arguing that Tobacco use contributes to air pollution and can generate concentrations of particulate matter up to 10 times higher than a diesel car engine.

“Tobacco smoke contains toxic substances, such as ammonia, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, nicotine, nitrosamines, and particulate matters. This smoke promotes atherosclerosis and thrombosis which lead to cardiovascular events such as heart attacks
and strokes. Air Pollution is responsible for 25% of strokes 24% of heart diseases in general. There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke, we recommend a total ban of smoking in public places to offer 100% smoke free environments,” lamented Professor Goma, flanked by Vice President Dr. Webby Mwamulela Senior Researcher, Richard Zulu and Communications Officer Ms. Paxina Phiri.

Discussing ‘Tobacco Use and Environmental Pollution,’ Prof. Goma regretted that ‘Every Year, The Global use of Tobacco generates; 25 MegaTons solid waste, 55 MegaTons of wasted water and 84 MegaTons of carbondioxide which contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

In addition, Professor Goma protested that every year, the global use of tobacco generates 4.5 trillion of littered cigarette butts, 1.69 billion pounds of toxic waste being potentially discharged into the air, soil, and water.

“In addition, filters present in cigarette butts are made of single-use plastic and may take more than 10 years to decompose.
Tobacco Growing and Environmental Pollution: Tobacco cultivation is a scourge for the environment, destroying fragile ecosystems and otherwise potentially productive land, and impoverishing millions of families in Zambia,” said Professor Goma.

Professor Goma argued that the 2022 World No Tobacco Day theme highlights the complex relationship between tobacco and the environment.

Professor Goma noted that Cultivation of tobacco for human consumption poses significant challenges to the environment, including deforestation, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and watershed destruction.

Professor Goma observed that the resulting environmental damage, in turn, bears adverse consequences for economies and human health.

“Deforestation Tobacco growing contributes enormously to deforestation particularly in poorer areas, on marginal land with limited agricultural use, where tobacco growing has become widespread such as Nkeyema and Kaoma, Chipangali, Lumezi and Lundazi, Mkushi and Serenje, Choma and Kalomo. These are precisely the places that can least afford this devastation. Tobacco is a common crop in the miombo woodlands, a dry, fragile and complex ecosystem home to thousands of plant and animal species, many of which are already threatened,”said Professor Goma.

Professor Goma cited multiple reasons for the increasing deforestation: ”
• First, because of consistently low tobacco prices, farmers—most of whom grow on small plots of land less than two hectares— seek to increase the amount of land they can use to cultivate tobacco leaf. Very often, this expansion comes at the expense of adjacent or nearby forested land. The farmers clear new land mostly by burning it. Moreover, because the soil is often not suitable for long-term agricultural use, when yields start to diminish after only a few seasons, farmers will abandon the land and clear still more. The abandoned land unfortunately does not regenerate and the original biodiversity is never recovered.

• Second, we have a number of farmers in Zambia who cultivate Virginia tobacco leaf and cure (or dry) the leaves with heat in covered barns. The heat is generated by burning wood that comes from these same forests. The degradation of these forests contributes to widespread soil erosion.
Increased emissions
The extensive burning of forests for tobacco growing also produces greenhouse gases of significant concern for the environment, including carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. The evidence is irrefutable that these gases contribute to climate change worldwide. The loss of forest also intensifies climate change because the land loses most or all its capacity to absorb these gases, one of our planet’s most important mechanisms to maintaining a climate equilibrium,” argued Professor Goma.

At the same time, Professor Goma is concerned that tobacco-growing regions in Low Middle Income Countries (LMIC) are ill-equipped to contend with climate change’s wider temperature fluctuations, longer periods without rain, and rains that come with increased ferocity.

“All of this contributes to a downward spiral for these communities as they deal with economic uncertainty, poor health, and generally diminished prospects.

On watershed destruction, Professor Goma says
to maximize yields and attain commercial quality, tobacco growers use a variety of agricultural chemicals including pesticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, some of which are known carcinogens.

“Research by our team demonstrates that farmers use disproportionately more chemicals to grow tobacco compared with other crops in the same areas. Additionally, because tobacco is often grown in regions with marginal land and poor soil, it requires even more intensive chemical use to produce a viable commercial crop. Run-off contaminated water with these chemicals adversely affects the land and watersheds around tobacco farms, undermining future agricultural use, which can be devastating for food crops in regions that are already food insecure. The contamination also affects drinking water, food crops, and other potentially healthy uses for the land, such as gathering medicines and hunting game for food,” observed Professor Goma.

Professor Goma says there is overwhelming evidence that tobacco devastates the environment, with enormous implications for local communities as well as on a global scale.

While many countries have implemented measures to reduce tobacco use, such as through raising taxes on tobacco products or restricting smoking in public spaces, few governments regulate this crop in a substantial way, a situation worrying Professor Goma.

Professor Goma regretted that the tobacco industry promotes a misleading narrative that tobacco cultivation leads to prosperity for farmers, though scientific evidence clearly demonstrates the opposite: tobacco not only kills directly through causing cancer and other non-communicable diseases among its users, thus its production impoverishes families and destroys the environment.

Professor Goma noted that addition to reducing its use, protecting the environment, and public health, particularly in the most fragile places, warrants a systematic and wholesale effort to reduce the use and cultivation of tobacco worldwide.