In movies, you know a character will be cool or rebellious when they pull out a smoke. Blowing smoke rings nonchalantly from those little tobacco sticks, are the hallmark of grit and glamour. Such aesthetic scenes in movies make smoking look irresistible. 

But, cigarettes are deadly, not cool!

Moreover, tobacco contributes to climate change, wasting resources and damaging ecosystems. 

Tobacco: Threat to the Environment

This year’s World No Tobacco Day highlights how people often disregard tobacco’s severe environmental effects. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) theme for the 2022  global no tobacco campaign  is ‘World No Tobacco Day - “Tobacco: Threat to our environment.”

Below are some of the environmental burdens of tobacco:

• Around 3.5 million hectares of land are destroyed for tobacco growing each year.
• Growing tobacco contributes to deforestation, especially in developing countries.
• A significant rise in tobacco consumption prevents the world from achieving a sustainable development goal that aims at reducing deaths from tobacco-related disease by a third by 2030.
• Tobacco smoke emits different kinds of greenhouse gases.
• Cigarette smoking releases 84,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts litter the environment every year. 
• Products such as electronic cigarettes cannot be recycled, and they become e-waste.

India in a ‘Smoke’ Screen

• 11.2% of  total smokers in the world  live in India
• India is among the top 10 tobacco-producing nations in the world.
• Nearly a 267Million adults in India are users of tobacco (Global Adult Tobacco Survey India, 2016-17)
• In recent years smoking has increased among youngsters and women in India.

Thank You for Not Smoking

Reducing tobacco use will prevent fatal chronic diseases like cancer and help the world inch close to sustainable development goals. So, giving tobacco users one extra reason to quit- a world where is free to breathe. 

Whether you want to give up tobacco, manage the habit, or help a family fight against tobacco, Mapmygenome’s Genomepatri can help you. Genomepatri enables you to understand your genetic predisposition to nicotine dependence, allowing you to achieve your goal of tobacco cessation. 

Exercise can be an essential part of your tobacco cessation. MyFitgene, Mapmygenome’s DNA-based fitness solution, can help you understand your nicotine dependence, ability to exercise, recovery speed, and muscle performance. 

Mapmygenome’s board-certified genetic counsellors can give you personalised recommendations by understanding patterns of nicotine dependence for tobacco cessation.