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HEALTH-CUBA:
Anti-Smoking
Measures and Safer Cigarettes
Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, (IPS) - While Cuba
has joined most of the rest of
the world in adopting
anti-smoking measures, the
Caribbean island nation's
scientists have also developed a
new, less harmful variety of
tobacco to lessen the ill
effects of this
health-threatening habit.
In Cuba, smoking is responsible
for one-third of all deaths from
cancer, which in turn is the
second leading cause of death
(after heart disease). While the
government launched a major
campaign early this year aimed
at encouraging Cubans to quit
smoking, the new "safer" tobacco
is meant to lessen the harm
caused to those who refuse to
"butt out."
The recently developed strain of
tobacco, called IT-2004, was
created through traditional
cross-breeding methods and has a
lower tar and nicotine content.
It will be used to produce
cigarettes for the domestic
market.
According to the state-run
Tobacco Research Institute (IIT),
the new variety of tobacco is
also better able to withstand
drought, as well as being more
resistant to pests and disease.
It also boasts a yield of up to
three tons per hectare.
Cuban experts say the
cancer-causing potential of
cigarettes does not depend
solely on the type of tobacco
used, but also the way in which
the tobacco plants are grown, in
terms of the distance between
seeds when planted and the
processes followed for
irrigation, fertilisation and
other procedures. The way the
tobacco leaves are processed
after picking also plays a role.
They also stress that Cuban
tobacco is grown through
strictly traditional methods,
with absolutely no genetic
modifications of any kind. This
holds true whether the tobacco
is used to make cigarettes for
domestic consumption or cigars
for the lucrative international
market.
The distinctive flavour and
aroma of Cuban cigars result
from a large number of genes,
which would make any attempts to
improve the tobacco through
genetic engineering both complex
and risky.
Moreover, most of the cigars
exported by Cuba are sold in
European countries, where the
use of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) is generally
frowned upon.
Researchers at the ITT have also
developed varieties of tobacco
that are more resistant to
tobacco blue mould, a
particularly destructive disease
whose airborne spores can travel
distances of up to 5,000
kilometres. These are now the
only varieties of tobacco grown
on the 39,000 hectares of land
devoted to this crop in Cuba.
To protect their crops from
insects and other pests, tobacco
farmers use biological agents
like Bacillus thuringiensis,
along with chemical products.
The tobacco industry brings Cuba
roughly 300 million dollars in
revenues annually. Cuban cigars
account for 70 percent of all
the cigars smoked in the world,
without counting the United
States, where the Cuban trade
embargo prohibits the import of
this or any other product from
the island.
But despite the money-making
potential of the tobacco
industry, Cuba has joined many
other countries around the world
in adopting measures to combat
smoking. Around 30 percent of
the country's 11 million
inhabitants are smokers.
Smoking in air-conditioned or
enclosed public spaces like
offices, meeting halls,
theatres, cinemas, and medical,
educational and sports
facilities has been banned since
February as a result of a
ministerial resolution.
Bus drivers and food service
workers are also prohibited from
smoking on the job.
All cigarette vending machines
have been removed, while it is
illegal to sell cigarettes to
minors or in stores, restaurants
or other businesses located
within 100 metres of schools.
"I still smoke like I always
have, but now I go out into the
hall, because I don't want to be
reprimanded. Before, I used to
smoke in the classroom," said
university professor Manuel
García, who has smoked for
almost 30 of his 55 years.
In addition to a general warning
that cigarette smoking is
harmful to one's health, Cuban
cigarette packages now contain
information on tar, nicotine and
carbon monoxide content.
"I know these are harmful toxins
that are bad for your health,
and can cause cancer, but I just
can't seem to kick the habit,"
García told IPS.
Cuban cigarettes have been
labelled with general warnings
about the health hazards of
smoking since the 1970s. But
anti-smoking efforts have been
stepped up considerably after
Cuba signed, last May, the World
Health Organisation (WHO)
Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control, which entered into
force this past February.
The convention addresses such
aspects as cigarette
advertising, tobacco industry
sponsorship, warning labels on
packaging, pricing and taxation,
contraband and second-hand
smoke.
According to WHO statistics,
five million people around the
world die every year from
smoking-related causes, and this
number could double by the year
2020 if current smoking trends
continue. |
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