Contents
Tobacco plant: The real truth
Introduction
If you have ever looked at what is inside a cigarette pack, you will see that there are many additives inside of it that you can’t really see with the naked eye.
One of these additives that is used in cigarettes comes from the tobacco plant and is called nicotine.
Nicotine has very negative effects on your body and your overall health if you smoke regularly or even in small doses like some of the times that people light up their cigarettes to smoke during their meal breaks at work or during lunch time at school.
If nicotine has such negative effects, why would cigarette companies even use it?
What Does Plant Mean? Is tobacco a plant?
Most people use plant to refer to an organism that is rooted into soil and usually lacks locomotion. Plants are characterized by photosynthesis, cell walls, stomata, non-motile root and shoots, and lack of response to external stimuli.
This broad definition can include single-celled organisms like algae as well as some fungi.
Typically, we think of plants as growing from seeds or from bulbs and other storage organs. While there are many things in nature that fit these characteristics, tobacco doesn’t seem to be one of them.
After all, you don’t find it sprouting up from between your toes when you walk through a field. So what does plant mean? Is tobacco a plant? When most people say plant they mean something closer to herbaceous flowering seed-bearing structure with cellulose cell walls and chlorophyll for photosynthesis.
In short the brief answer of a question is tobacco a plant? is no, tobacco is not a plant at all if you see from this point of view. I will explain further.
Why Not Tobacco?
The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that tobacco contains more than 4,000 chemicals when burned and that nearly 600 of these can be found in smokeless tobacco.
When you inhale tobacco smoke or chew it, your body absorbs these chemicals into your bloodstream.
These toxic compounds include ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, which cause blood vessel damage, as well as carbon monoxide (CO), which reduces oxygen delivery to vital organs such as your heart and brain.
Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke also results in nicotine addiction, and acute nicotine poisoning is no joke.
In small doses, it can lead to vomiting and diarrhea, higher concentrations can cause seizures and coma.
What Makes a Drug Addictive and Harmful?
Addiction to tobacco is caused by nicotine, an alkaloid found in tobacco plants.
Nicotine causes brain cell dopamine levels to increase, which is responsible for feelings of pleasure and euphoria.
With increased doses of nicotine, you will need more to feel high. An addicted smoker will experience withdrawal symptoms (the shakes, cravings) if he or she does not smoke for several hours.
So it is easy to see why quitting smoking can be difficult. But that doesn’t mean it is impossible.
Most smokers who try to quit on their own relapse within a week, however, studies show that support groups like Nicotine Anonymous have a success rate of between 20% and 30%.
If you think you might have a problem with tobacco use, talk to the de-addiction centers and speak with someone about how best to get help.
FDA Facts
Smoking is responsible for about 1 of every 5 deaths in Americans each year.
Each day, more than 3,200 young people under 18 years old smoke their first cigarette.
In fact, cigarette smoking is one of leading causes of preventable death and it is still growing.
If current trends continue, more than 8 million American children alive today will die prematurely from tobacco-related illness and death.
Unfortunately, most smokers begin smoking as children or teens. About 90% of adult smokers started before they were 18 years old.
That means that nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start smoking before they turn 26 years old. And unfortunately, many kids who don’t start smoking cigarettes will use other tobacco products like cigars, pipes, hookahs and e-cigarettes which are just as dangerous to health.
These products contain nicotine the addictive drug found in cigarettes and other harmful chemicals that can cause cancer and even lead to sudden death.
Nicotine, Addiction, and Toxicity
If you think about botanical point of view about whether Is Tobacco a Plant?
Yes, tobacco is definitely a plant. In fact, it is part of an economically important genus of about 60 species in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), known as Nicotiana.
In addition to tobacco and other garden favorites like bell peppers and petunias, it also includes some plants you may have never thought much about: chili peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, ground cherries (physalis), tomatillos and goji berries.
For example if we observe carefully we can see that almost every part of tobacco is considered medicinal which again shows how useful plant species can be for human survival. But what exactly makes tobacco so toxic? It all comes down to one thing nicotine.
This chemical is found in all parts of tobacco except for its seeds, but it’s most concentrated in its leaves.
While many people believe that smoking cigarettes causes cancer, actually chewing on or smoking cigars doesn’t cause cancer directly; rather, it’s caused by inhaling tar into your lungs and absorbing carcinogens from that tar over time.
Cigars don’t necessarily have more tar than cigarettes, they just tend to be longer and therefore harder to smoke quickly without inhaling some of their contents into your lungs with each puff. However, there are two types of oral cancers associated with cigars: lip cancer and tongue cancer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Now come to the main question Is Tobacco a Plant? The answer is somewhat different. You can say, rather, it is an addictive substance that has been linked to various health concerns including cancer and can lead to nicotine withdrawal symptoms when use is stopped.
Since tobacco is used by approximately 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 teens worldwide, it is important to talk about its properties and negative side effects with family members or loved ones who might be using or may consider using it.
By educating yourself about how tobacco is processed from seed to smoke, you will be better prepared for these conversations if necessary and perhaps more able to influence others around you towards healthier behaviors.