B & A Fact Page
For your convienience we have organized this page into subsections
including areas discussing the origins
of the tobacco plant, old wives tales and myths about tobacco, the
growth, deciet and desperation of the most prominent tobacco companies,
common and uncommon heath facts about smoking and chewing and the
emergence of an Anti-Tobacco Campaign.
Top|
The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
 The tobacco plant is originally native to North and South America.
It is beleived that tobacco plants began to spread across Northern and Southern Americas as early as 6,000 B.C.
The tobacco plant is included in the same family as harmless plants, such as the pepper and potatoe, but is also family with the most poisonous and deadly plant, the Nightshade.
The seed of the tobacco plant is soooooooo small that there are 300,000 seeds in a one ounce sample of tobacco.
It wasn't until 1826 that the pure form of nicotine was extracted from a tobacco plant. It was about this time scintists concluded that nicotine is a dangerous poison.
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The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
Throughout the 1800's
tobacco was believed to be an omnipotent cure, it was used to dress
wounds and as a pain killer.
Chewing tobacco was
believed to cure toothaches.
Tobacco later believed
to cure everything from BAD
BREATH to CANCER.
During the late 1500's
it was very popular to
breath smoke out through the nose, resultng in numerous cases of nose
cancer.
In 1588 a man by the
name of Thomas Harriet promoted smoking as a good way to recieve one's
daily dose of tobacco. ( Hey, my mortician said smoke two packs of these
and I'll pick you up in the morning!)
1571 a Spanish doctor,
Nicholas Monardes, wrote a book about the history of medicinal plants of
the new world. In it he claimed that tobacco could cure 36 different
health problems.
Starting in the early
1600's tobacco was often
used as an alternate for currency, it was often said to be "As good as
gold."
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The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
This section allows you to take a quick glance at three of the major
tobacco companies of the past and present, Phillip Morris, R.J. Reanold's
and American Brands Inc.
Phillip Morris : Marlboro
R.J. Reynolds : Camel |
American Brands Inc. |
Phillip Morris :
Marlboro
Back
1874 - Phillip Morris
company is established in Britain, specialize in hand rolled Turkish
cigarettes.
1902 - Britain's Phillip
Morris establishes a new headquarters in New York to market it's new
brand of cigarettes; Marlboro.
1924 - Morris
re-introduces Marlboro as a women's cgarette that is as "Mild as May"
Forced to buy into other
companies due to bad press and loss n customer sales; company now
included Miller Brewing Company, spawning products such as Miller Lite,
Miller Beer and Red Dog Beer.
Later expands into other
companies in order to enlarge their market, new companies include General
Foods and Kraft Inc.
1980's - 1990's - Morris
and other companies expand into foriegn countries mostly Asia.
1990's - A battle
between Coca Cola and Marlboro as the #1 brand in the world.
R.J. Reynolds : Camel
Back
1875 - R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company was created to mass produce chewing tobacco.
In 1900 demand for
cigarettes grew imensely so in response R.J. Reynolds introduced their
new brand in 1913, Camel.
1923 - Camel controled
almost 50% of the US market.
Between 1954 and 1956
Reynolds released two new brands of cigarettes, both with filters. The
Winston; one of the first filtered cgarettes and the Salem brand, the
first filter-tipped menthol cigarettes.
Once again bad press and
loss of sales causes R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to change their name
by dropping the 'Tobacco Company' and becoming R.J. Reynolds
Industries.
1985 - Reynolds follows
in the footsteps of the Phillip Morris ompany and begins to buy into
other companies, buying Nabisco, becoming RJR/Nabisco, they also buy into
other products like aluminum.
American Tobacco
Company
Back
A small company until in
1925 when they began to target women in response to Phillip Morris' "Mild
as May" Marlboro's.
Licky Strike brand gains
38% of the market.
Rate of female teenage
smokers triples between 1925 - 1935.
1939 - Pall Mall,
Americans newest brand is released, this allows American to become the
largest tobacco company in the US.
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The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
Below are some basic and not so basic facts about what tobacco does to
your body and those around you.
In 1952 a new brand of
cigarette is marketed, which contains a "micronite" filter. This brand
was discontinued four years later because the filter contained
asbestos!
1953 - Dr. Ernst Wynders
finds that putting cigarette tar on the backs of mice, causes tumors.
1982 - Surgeon General
announces that second hand smoke can cause lung cancer.
1985 - lung cancer beats
out breast cancer, becoming the #1 killer of women.
A majority of female
teen smokers pick up the habit because they think it will prevent them
from gaining weight, and that it could help them lose weight.
Chewing tobacco thickens
and hardens the mouth.
Over 40% of daily chew
users develop ulcers in the mouth after 3 1/2 years.
Women who use snuff are
50 times more likely to cotract lung cancer than non-users.
Heavy cigar and
cigarette smoking can lead to lung cancer.
About 90% of the
nicotine inhaled by smoking is absorbed into your lungs, oral cavity, and
gastrointestinal system.
Nicotine particles in
your body act upon EVERY cell in your body.
Nicotine can increase
salivation, stomache acid and motility. Or in other words . . . make you
DROOL, give you HEARTBURN and DIARRHEA.
While nicotine can
increase your alertness, concentration, attention, and make you less
hungry, there are serious addiction problems.
Constant use can cause a
tolerance and dependance on nicotine. In as little as a week you can be
hooked for life!
Once you are addicted
the urge is insatiable with the exception of one escape, another
cigarette or more snuff, etc. This effect can occur within only a few
hours from your last fix.
Withdrawl includes loss
of concentration, you become irratible, and you could possibly gain some
weight. But worst of all is the intense cravings for another puff.
Withdrawl can last up to
a week, but the cravings and weight gain can last a little longer.
Smoking is the major
cause of several different cancers, Cancer of the lips, tongue, salivary
glands, mouth, larynx, esophagus, and middle and lower Pharynx.
Stomache cancer has been
directly associated with smoking.
Smoking is also drectly
linked with bladder cancer.
Second hand smoke
contains many smaller particles, these particles travel deeper into the
lungs and are absorbed in the tissue of the lungs. This makes second
hand smoke as dangerous if not more dangerous that first hand smoke.
Smoking accelerates the
aging process.
Smoking dramatically
reduces the effectiveness of most and many medications.
Smoking can make you
short of breath and can even stop your breathing while you sleep.
Women who smoke are 7
times more likely to grow facial hair compared to those who don't
smoke.
Also women who smoke are
17 more likely to have hoarse scratchy voices
than women who don't smoke.
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The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
Below is a series of facts dealing with the history of the anti-tobacco
campaign.
1610 - Sir Francis Bacon
noted that quiting the habit was very very hard.
1632 - Smoking was
illegal in public, but this was more of a moral issue than a health
issue.
In the early 1900's as
the tobacco industries began to boom with their new shiny product, the
"cigarette", there was a growing campaign to stop the production of such
horrible devices.
1965 - Television ads
removed from all television broadcasts in Great Britain.
1966 - Standardized
warning labels appear on cigarette packages.
During the late 1960's
and early 70's many non-tobacco cigarettes were marketed, most flopped
quickly. One brand called Bravo was made mostly of lettuce, it failed
within a year.
1971 - Tobacco ads were
taken off of television broadcasts in the United States but are still the
most advertised product second only to automobiles.
1977 - The first Great
American Smokeout occurs.
1979 - Due to Virginia
Slims brand attracting more and more women to pick up smoking, the
Surgeon General reports on the Health Concequences of Smoking for
Women.
During the 1980's
numerous lawsuites were filed against the tobacco industry because of
tobaccos harmful effects of the products.
1982 - Surgeon General
states that secong hand smoking can cause lung cancer.
1982 - Smoking is
restricted in most public places especially in the workplace.
1987 - Congress bans
smoking on all flights lasting less than 2 hours.
1990 - Smoking is banned
on all domestic flights except to Alaska and Hawaii.
1990 - Ben & Jerry's Ice
Cream boycotts RJR/Nabisco and drops Oreos from it's ice cream
products.
Top|
The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
October 15, 1492,
Christopher Columbus was offered dried tobacco leaves as a gift from
American Indians that he first met upon landing in North American.
Soon after, sailors
brought the tobacco plant back to Europe. The plant quikly spread
accross the continent.
1776 - America used
tobacco as collateral in order to receive loans from France. These loans
were used to finance the American Revolutionary War.
Cigarettes became
popular around the late 1800's when Russian and Turkish soldiers brought
them into England.
Cigarettes were at first
made mainly from scraps left over from other tobacco products, especially
chewing tobacco.
Cigarette use expanded
imensely during World War I (1914-1918), when cigarettes were called
"Soldiers Smoke".
During World War II
(1939-1945) cigarettes were included in soldier's C-Rations.
To "help" the cause of
WWII the tobacco industry gave millions of cigarettes to soldiers for
free, when the soldiers came home they were loyal customers.
Every day another 3,000
young people become regular smokers.
7 out of 10 smokers
wished that they had never started smoking, and cannot quit.
A majority of smokers
know the damaging capabilities of tobacco and acknowledges them but are
reluctant to try and quit.
Other people don't think
that the effects of tobacco won't apply to them.
If parents smoke it is
highly likely that their children will become smokers.
The young crowd is the
tobacco companies biggest targets, mainly to keep up a consumer
demand.
The new smokers are
sought out to replace the thousands of smokers that die every year.
Tobacco companies on
average spend about $5 billion on advertising every year. Most of this
advertising is slandered towards the young population.
Incidentaly the top 3
brands bought by underage smokers are the three most advertised brands,
Marlboro, Camel, and Newport.
Tobacco kills over
450,000 Americans every year. More than alcohol, cocaine, crack,
heroine, homicide, suicide, car accidents,fire and AIDS combined.
25% of the Adult
population smokes.
17% of the teenage
population smokes.
The federal government
pays for about 43% of all smoking related medical expenses.
Top|
The Plant |
Old Wives Tales |
The Tobacco Companies |
Health Factors |
The Anti-Tobacco World|
Misc. Facts
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