Tabacum officinalis
= Nicotiana tabacum Anhängsel
https://www.test.de/E-Zigarette-Ist-Dampfen-weniger-gefaehrlich-als-Rauchen-4817257-0/
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in
the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a
pesticide and in the form of nicotine tartrate,
used in some medicines.
It is most commonly used as a drug, and is a valuable cash crop for
countries such as Cuba, India, China, and the United States. Tobacco is a name
for any plant of the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae family (nightshade family) and for the product
manufactured from the leaf used in cigars and cigarettes, snuff, and pipe and
chewing tobacco. Tobacco plants are also used in plant bioengineering, and some
of the more than 70 species are grown as ornamentals. The chief commercial
species, N. tabacum, is believed native to tropical
America, like most nicotiana plants, but has been so
long cultivated that it is no longer known in the wild. N. rustica,
a mild-flavored, fast-burning species, was the
tobacco originally raised in Virginia, but it is now grown chiefly in Turkey,
India, and Russia. The alkaloid nicotine is popularly considered the most
characteristic constituent of tobacco but nicotine is not highly addictive on
its own. It is thought that the interaction
between beta-carbolines and nicotine is
responsible for most of the addictive properties of tobacco smoking. The
harmful effects of tobacco derive from the thousands of different compounds
generated in the smoke, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as benzpyrene), formaldehyde, cadmium, nickel, arsenic,
tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), phenols, and
many others.
In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking,
chewing, snuffing, or dipping tobacco. Tobacco had long been in use as an entheogen in the Americas,
but upon the arrival of Europeans in North America, it quickly became
popularized as a trade item and a widely abused drug. This popularization led
to the development
of the southern economy of the U.S. until it gave way to cotton.
Following the American Civil War, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette.
This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies.
Because of the powerfully addictive properties of tobacco, tolerance and
dependence develop. The usage of tobacco is an activity that is practiced by
some 1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The WHO reports
it to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and estimates that it
currently causes 5.4 million deaths per year. Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in developed countries, but
continue to rise in developing countries.
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seeds
are sown in cold frames or hotbeds to prevent attacks from insects, and then
transplanted into the fields. Tobacco is an annual crop, which is usually
harvested mechanically or by hand. After harvest, tobacco is stored for curing,
either by hanging, bundling or placing in large piles with tubular vents to
allow the heat to escape from the center. Curing
allows for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids.
This allows for the agricultural product
to take on properties that are usually attributed to the
"smoothness" of the smoke. Following this, tobacco is packed into its
various forms of consumption, which include smoking, chewing, snuffing, and so
on. Most cigarettes incorporate flue-cured tobacco, which produces a milder,
more inhalable smoke. Use of low-pH, inhalable, flue-cured tobacco is one of
the principal reasons smoking causes lung cancer and other diseases association
with smoke inhalation.
Etymology
The Spanish and Portuguese word tabaco is
thought to have originated in Taino, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean. In Taino,
it was said to refer either to a roll of tobacco leaves (Bartolomé
de las Casas, 1552), or to
the tabago, a kind of Y-shaped pipe for sniffing
tobacco smoke also known as snuff (according to Oviedo; with the
leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).
However, similar words in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian were commonly
used from 1410 to define medicinal herbs, originating from the Arabic طبق tabbaq, a word
reportedly dating to the 9th century, as the name of various herbs.
History
The earliest depiction of a European man smoking, from Tabacco by Anthony Chute.
Tobacco had already long been used in the Americas when European
settlers arrived and introduced the practice to Europe, where it became
popular. Many Native American tribes have traditionally grown and used tobacco
with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400-1000 B.C. [Eastern
North American tribes carried large amounts
of tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item, and often smoked
it in peace pipes, either in defined sacred ceremonies, or to seal a bargain,
and they smoked it at such occasions in all stages of life, even in childhood.
It was believed that tobacco is a gift from the Creator, and that the exhaled
tobacco smoke carries one's thoughts and prayers to heaven. Before the
development of lighter Virginia and White Burley strains of tobacco, the smoke
was too harsh to be inhaled traditionally by Native Americans in ceremonial use
or by Europeans who used it in the form of pipes and cigars. Inhaling
"rough" tobacco without seriously damaging the lungs in the short
term required smoking only small quantities at a time using a pipe like the midwakh or kiseru or smoking newly
invented waterpipes such as the bong or the hookah
(See Thuoc lao for a modern
continuance of this practice). Inhaling smoke was already common in the East
with the introduction of cannabis and opium millennia before.
Popularization
Following the arrival of the Europeans, tobacco became increasingly
popular as a trade item. It fostered the economy for the southern U.S. until it
was replaced by cotton. Following the American civil war, a change in demand
and a change in labor force allowed inventor James Bonsack to create a machine that automated cigarette
production.
This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in the tobacco
industry until the scientific revelations of the mid-20th century.
Contemporary
Following the scientific revelations of the mid-20th century, tobacco
became condemned as a health hazard, and eventually became encompassed as a
cause for cancer, as
well as other respiratory and circulatory diseases. In the United
States, this led to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which
settled the lawsuit in exchange
for a combination of yearly payments to the states and voluntary
restrictions on advertising and marketing of tobacco products.
In the 1970s, Brown & Williamson cross-bred a strain of tobacco to
produce Y1. This strain of tobacco contained an unusually high amount of
nicotine, nearly doubling its content from 3.2 - 3.5% to 6.5%. In the 1990s,
this prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use this strain as
evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine
content of cigarettes.
In 2003, in response to growth of tobacco use in developing countries,
WHO successfully rallied 168 countries to sign the Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control.
The Convention is designed to push for effective legislation and its
enforcement in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco. This led
to the development of tobacco cessation products.
Nicotine is the compound responsible for the addictive nature of Tobacco
use.
There are many species of tobacco in the genus of herbs Nicotiana. It is part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) indigenous to North and South America,
Australia, South West Africa and the South Pacific.
Many plants contain nicotine, a powerful neurotoxin to insects. However,
tobaccos contain a higher concentration of nicotine than most other plants.
Unlike many other Solanaceae, they do not contain tropane alkaloids, which are often poisonous to humans and
other animals.
Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and
other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species)
to deter most herbivores, a number of such animals have evolved the ability to
feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed.
Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species, and accordingly some
tobacco plants (chiefly tree tobacco, N. glauca) have
become established as invasive weeds in some places.
Types of tobacco
There are a number of types of tobacco including, but are not limited
to:
Aromatic fire-cured is cured by smoke from open fires. In the United
States, it is grown in northern middle Tennessee, central Kentucky and in
Virginia. Fire-cured tobacco grown in Kentucky and Tennessee are used in some
chewing tobaccos, moist snuff, some cigarettes, and as a condiment in pipe
tobacco blends. Another fire-cured tobacco is Latakia,
which is produced from oriental varieties of N. tabacum.
The leaves are cured and smoked over smoldering fires
of local hardwoods and aromatic shrubs in Cyprus and Syria.
Brightleaf tobacco, Brightleaf
is commonly known as "Virginia tobacco", often regardless of the
state where they are planted. Prior to the American Civil War, most tobacco
grown in the US was fire-cured dark-leaf. This type of tobacco was planted in
fertile lowlands, used a robust variety of leaf, and was either fire cured or
air cured. Most Canadian cigarettes are made from 100% pure Virginia tobacco.
Burley tobacco, is an air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette
production. In the U.S., burley tobacco plants are started from palletized
seeds placed in polystyrene trays floated on a bed of fertilized water in March
or April.
Cavendish is more a process of curing and a method of cutting tobacco
than a type. The processing and the cut are used to bring out the natural sweet
taste in the tobacco. Cavendish can be produced from any tobacco type, but is
usually one of, or a blend of Kentucky, Virginia, and burley, and is most
commonly used for pipe tobacco and cigars.
Criollo tobacco is a type of tobacco,
primarily used in the making of cigars. It was, by most accounts, one of the
original Cuban tobaccos that emerged around the time of Columbus.
Dokha, is a tobacco originally grown in Iran, mixed
with leaves, bark, and herbs for smoking in a midwakh.
Turkish tobacco, is a sun-cured, highly aromatic, small-leafed variety (Nicotiana tabacum) that is grown
in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Originally grown in regions
historically part of the Ottoman Empire, it is also known as
"oriental". Many of the early brands of cigarettes were made mostly
or entirely of Turkish tobacco; today, its main use is in blends of pipe and
especially cigarette tobacco (a typical American cigarette is a blend of bright
Virginia, burley and Turkish).
Perique, a farmer called Pierre Chenet is credited with first turning this local tobacco
into the Perique in 1824 through the technique of
pressure-fermentation. Considered the truffle of pipe tobaccos, it is used as a
component in many blended pipe tobaccos, but is too strong to be smoked pure.
At one time, the freshly moist Perique was also
chewed, but none is now sold for this purpose. It is typically blended with
pure Virginia to lend spice, strength, and coolness to the blend.
Shade tobacco, is cultivated in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Early
Connecticut colonists acquired from the Native Americans the habit of smoking
tobacco in pipes, and began cultivating the plant commercially, even though the
Puritans referred to it as the "evil weed". The Connecticut shade
industry has weathered some major catastrophes, including a devastating
hailstorm in 1929, and an epidemic of brown spot fungus in 2000, but is now in
danger of disappearing altogether, given the value of the land to real estate
speculators.
White burley, in 1865, George Webb of Brown County, Ohio planted red
burley seeds he had purchased, and found that a few of the seedlings had a
whitish, sickly look. The air-cured leaf was found to be more mild than other
types of tobacco.
Wild tobacco, is native to the southwestern
United States, Mexico, and parts of South America. Its botanical name is Nicotiana rustica.
Y1 is a strain of tobacco cross-bred by Brown & Williamson in the
1970s to obtain an unusually high nicotine content. In the 1990s, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) used it as evidence that tobacco companies were
intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarettes.
Cultivation of tobacco
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seeds
were at first quickly scattered onto the soil. However, young plants came under
increasing attack from flea beetles (Epitrix cucumeris or Epitrix pubescens), which caused destruction of half the tobacco
crops in United States in 1876. By 1890 successful experiments were conducted
that placed the plant in a frame covered by thin cotton fabric. Today, tobacco
is sown in cold frames or hotbeds, as their germination is activated by light.
In the U.S., tobacco is often fertilized with the mineral apatite, which
partially starves the plant of nitrogen, to produce a more desired flavor. Apatite, however, contains radium, and lead 210
- which are known carcinogens.
After the plants are about eight inches tall, they are transplanted into
the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant. A hole is
created in the tilled earth with a tobacco peg, either
a curved wooden tool or deer antler. After making two holes to the right
and left - you would move forward two feet, select plants from your bag and
repeat. Various mechanical tobacco planters like Bemis, New Idea Setter, and
New Holland Transplanter were invented in the late 19th
and 20th centuries to automate the process: making the hole,
watering it, guiding the plant in - all in one motion.
Tobacco is cultivated annually, and can be harvested in several ways. In
the oldest method still used today, the entire plant is harvested at once by
cutting off the stalk at the ground with a tobacco knife. It is then speared
onto sticks, 4 - 6 plants a stick and hung in a curing barn. In the 19th
century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off
the stalk as they ripened. The leaves ripen from the ground upwards, so a field
of tobacco harvested in this manner will involve the serial harvest of a number
of "primings," beginning with the volado leaves near the ground, working to the second leaves
in the middle of the plant, and finishing with the potent ligero
leaves at the top. Before this the crop needs to be topped when the pink
flowers develop. Topping always refers to the removal of the tobacco flower
before the leaves are systematically removed and, eventually, entirely
harvested. As the industrial revolution took hold, harvesting wagons used to
transport leaves were equipped with man-powered stringers, an apparatus that
used twine to attach leaves to a pole. In modern times, large fields are
harvested mechanically, although topping the flower and in some cases the
plucking of immature leaves is still done by hand. Most tobacco in the U.S. is
grown in Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.
Curing
Curing and subsequent aging allow for the slow oxidation and degradation
of carotenoids in tobacco leaf. This produces certain
compounds in the tobacco leaves, and gives a sweet hay, tea, rose oil, or
fruity aromatic flavor that contributes to the
"smoothness" of the smoke. Starch is converted to sugar, which glycates protein, and is oxidized into advanced glycation end products (AGEs), a caramelization process that also adds flavor.
Inhalation of these AGEs in tobacco smoke contributes
to atherosclerosis and cancer. Levels of AGE's is
dependent on the curing method used.
Tobacco can be cured through several methods, including:
Air cured tobacco is hung in well-ventilated barns and allowed to dry
over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is low in sugar, which
gives the tobacco smoke a light, mild flavor, and
high in nicotine. Cigar and burley tobaccos are 'Dark' air cured.
Fire cured tobacco is hung in large barns where fires of hardwoods are
kept on continuous or intermittent low smoulder and takes between three days
and ten weeks, depending on the process and the tobacco. Fire curing produces a
tobacco low in sugar and high in nicotine. Pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and
snuff are fire cured.
Flue cured tobacco was originally strung onto tobacco sticks, which were
hung from tier-poles in curing barns (Aus: kilns, also traditionally called Oasts). These barns have flues run from externally fed fire
boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the
temperature over the course of the curing. The process generally takes about a
week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has
medium to high levels of nicotine.
Sun-cured tobacco dries uncovered in the sun. This method is used in
Turkey, Greece and other Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco.
Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.
Consumption
Tobacco is consumed in many forms and through a number of different
methods. Below are examples including, but not limited to, such forms and
usage.
Beedi are thin, often flavored,
south Asian cigarettes made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu
leaf, and secured with colored thread at one end.
Chewing tobacco is the oldest way of consuming tobacco leaves. It is
consumed orally, in two forms: through sweetened strands, or in a shredded
form. When consuming the long sweetened strands, the tobacco is lightly chewed
and compacted into a ball. When consuming the shredded tobacco, small amounts
are placed at the bottom lip, between the gum and the teeth, where it is gently
compacted, thus it can often be called dipping tobacco. Both methods stimulate
the saliva glands, which led to the development of the spittoon.
Cigars are tightly rolled bundles of dried and fermented tobacco, which
is ignited so its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth.
Cigarettes are a product consumed through inhalation of smoke and
manufactured from cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted
tobacco, often combined with other additives, then rolled or stuffed into a
paper cylinder.
Creamy snuffs are tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a
toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India, and is known by the
brand names Ipco (made by Asha
Industries), Denobac, Tona,
Ganesh. It is locally known as "mishri" in some parts of Maharashtra.
Dipping tobaccos are a form of smokeless tobacco. Dip is occasionally
referred to as "chew", and because of this, it is commonly confused
with chewing tobacco, which encompasses a wider range of products. A small
clump of dip is 'pinched' out of the tin and placed between the lower or upper
lip and gums.
Gutka is a preparation of crushed betel nut,
tobacco, and sweet or savory flavorings.
It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries. A mild
stimulant, it is sold across India in small, individual-size packets.
Hookah is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for
smoking. Originally from India, the hookah has gained immense popularity,
especially in the Middle East. A hookah operates by water filtration and
indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits or moassel,
a mixture of tobacco, flavouring and honey or glycerin.
Kreteks are cigarettes made with a complex
blend of tobacco, cloves and a flavoring
"sauce". It was first introduced in the 1880s in Kudus, Java, to
deliver the medicinal eugenol of cloves to the lungs.
Roll-Your-Own, often called rollies or roll
ups, are very popular, particularly in European countries. These are prepared
from loose tobacco, cigarette papers and filters all bought separately. They
are usually much cheaper to make.
Pipe smoking typically consists of a small chamber (the bowl) for the
combustion of the tobacco to be smoked and a thin stem (shank) that ends in a
mouthpiece (the bit). Shredded pieces of tobacco are placed into the chamber
and ignited.
Snuff is a generic term for fine-ground smokeless tobacco products.
Originally the term referred only to dry snuff, a fine tan dust popular mainly
in the 18th century.
Snuff powder originated in the UK town of Great Harwood, and was
famously ground in the town's monument prior to local distribution and
transport further up north
to Scotland. There are two major varieties: European (dry) and American
(moist)—though American snuff is often called dipping tobacco.
Snus is a steam-cured moist powder tobacco product
that is not fermented, and does not induce salivation. It is consumed by
placing it in the mouth against the gums for an extended period of time. It is
a form of snuff used in a manner similar to American dipping tobacco, but does
not require regular spitting.
Topical tobacco paste is sometimes recommended as a treatment for wasp,
hornet, fire ant, scorpion, and bee stings.[36] An amount equivalent to the
contents of a cigarette is mashed in a cup with about a 0.5 to 1 teaspoon of
water to make a paste that is then applied to the affected area.
Tobacco water is a traditional organic insecticide used in domestic
gardening. Tobacco dust can be used similarly. It is produced by boiling strong
tobacco in water, or by steeping the tobacco in water for a longer period. When
cooled, the mixture can be applied as a spray, or 'painted' on to the leaves of
garden plants, where it kills insects. Tobacco is however banned from use as
pesticide in certified organic production.
Global production
Trends
Production of tobacco leaf increased by 40% between 1971, during which
4.2 million tons of leaf were produced, and 1997, during which 5.9 million tons
of leaf were produced. According to the Food and Agriculture organization of
the UN, tobacco leaf production was expected to hit 7.1 million tons by 2010.
This number is a bit lower than the record high production of 1992, during
which 7.5 million tons of leaf were produced. The production growth was almost
entirely due to increased productivity by developing nations, where production
increased by 128%. During that same time period, production in developing
countries actually decreased. China's increase in tobacco production was the
single biggest factor in the increase in world production. China’s share of the
world market increased from 17% in 1971 to 47% in 1997.
This growth can be partially explained by the existence of a high import
tariff on foreign tobacco entering China. While this tariff has been reduced
from 64% in 1999 to
10% in 2004, it still has led to local, Chinese cigarettes being
preferred over foreign cigarettes because of their lower cost.
Every year 6.7 million tons of tobacco are produced throughout the
world. The top producers of tobacco are China (39.6%), India (8.3%), Brazil
(7.0%) and the U.S. (4.6%).
Major producers
China
Around the peak of global tobacco production there were 20 million rural
Chinese households producing tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land. While it
is the major crop
for millions of Chinese farmers, growing tobacco is not as profitable as
cotton or sugar cane. This is because the Chinese government sets the market
price. While this price
is guaranteed, it is lower than the natural market price, because of the
lack of market risk. To further control tobacco in their borders, China founded
a State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) in 1982. STMA control tobacco
production, marketing, imports and exports and contributes 12% to the nation's
national income.
As noted above, despite the income generated for the state by profits
from state-owned tobacco companies and the taxes paid by companies and
retailers, China's government has acted to reduce tobacco use.
Pakistan
Each year 5% of the total land of Pakistan is cultivated for tobacco. It
is widely grown in Southern Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province of Pakistan.
Brazil
In Brazil around 135,000 family farmers cite tobacco production as their
main economic activity. Tobacco has never exceeded 0.7% of the country’s total
cultivated area.
In the southern regions of Brazil, Virginia and Amarelinho
flue-cured tobacco as well as Burley and Galpao Comun air-cured tobacco are produced. These types of
tobacco
are used for cigarettes. In the northeast, darker, air- and sun-cured
tobacco is grown. These types of tobacco are used for cigars, twists and
dark-cigarettes. Brazil’s government has made attempts to reduce the production
of tobacco, but has not had a successful systematic anti-tobacco farming
initiative. Brazil’s government, however, provides small loans for family
farms, including those that grow tobacco, through the Programa
Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar (PRONAF).
India
India's Tobacco Board is headquartered in Guntur in the state of Andhra
Pradesh. India has 96,865 registered tobacco farmers and many more who are not
registered. In 2010, there were 3,120 tobacco product manufacturing facilities
in all of India. Around 0.25% of India’s cultivated land is used for tobacco
production.
Since 1947, the Indian Government has supported growth in the tobacco
industry. India has seven tobacco research centers,
located in Madras (now known as Chennai, Tamil Nadu), Andhra Pradesh, Punjab,
Bihar, Mysore, West Bengal, and Rajamundry.
Rajahmundry houses the core research institute. The government has set up a
Central Tobacco Promotion Council, which works to increase exports of Indian
tobacco.
The Indian Government and several states have taken multiple measures to
reduce Cigarette smoking. Smoking in public places is banned in many states, it
is not allowed to be portrayed in movies, and warnings are posted on cigarette
packs.
Minor producer
Philippines
Tobacco in the Philippines remained highly concentrated in 2009 and
dominated by cigarette manufacturers Fortune Tobacco Corporation and Philip
Morris International.
The strength of these companies is due to their extensive distribution
networks which encompass both traditional and non-traditional retail channels
as well as their ability
to offer their products at affordable prices.
Top player Fortune Tobacco Corp maintained its leadership position
throughout the review period as mass market cigarette smokers continued to
purchase its economy cigarette brands, particularly leading brand Fortune
International.
Cigarette prices in the Philippines are low, with the price of Marlboro
(cigarette) being the second lowest for all ASEAN nations. The cigarette market
has been dominated
by menthol brands for several decades, although non-menthol volume has
been steadily improving in recent years. La Suerte
Cigar and Cigarette Company and the Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) have been
the two leading producers, and have had licensing agreements with PMI and RJ
Reynolds (RJR) respectively. FTC commands a 67% market share, while La Suerte holds a 25% share.
Problems in tobacco production
Environment
Tobacco production requires the use of a large amount of pesticides.
Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in
the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the
young plants to the field. Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to
produce larger crops in less time because
of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco
farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety
protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers,
end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain. Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat.
Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk
as well as harm his or her nervous and immune systems.
Tobacco is a crop that extracts nutrients (K, P, N), from the soil more
quickly than any other major crop. This leads to dependence on fertilizers.
Furthermore, the wood used to cure tobacco in some places leads to
deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the U.S. have
access to petroleum, coal and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to
wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process.
Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging
and rolling cigarettes.
Research
Because of its importance as a research too, transgenic tobacco was the
first GM crop to be tested in field trials, in the United States and France in
1986; China became the first country in the world to approve commercial
planting of a GM crop in 1993, which was tobacco.
Many varieties of transgenic tobacco have been intensively tested in
field trials. Agronomic traits such as resistance to pathogens (viruses,
particularly to the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV); fungi; bacteria and nematodes);
weed management via herbicide tolerance; resistance against insect pests;
resistance to drought and cold; and production of useful products such as
pharmaceuticals; and use of GM plants for bioremediation, have all been tested
in over 400 field trials using tobacco.
Production
Currently, only China and the US are producing GM tobacco. The Chinese
tobacco is believed to be herbicide resistant. In the US, cigarettes made with
GM tobacco with reduced nicotine content are available under the market name
Quest.
‡ Folgendes hat
anthroposofische
Einschlüsse ‡
[Wilhelm Pelikan]
The Solanaceae theme comes up in quite a
different key when we consider the genus Nicotiana.
This comprises annuals from the tropics and subtropics, with strong, undivided
leaves, some a metre long, surrounding the shoot as it strives energetically
upwards. With their stems fused into the shoot, these leaves follow one another
rhythmically in great abundance, gradually contracting until they enter the
floral region as small bracts, penetrating right to the top of the shoot. For
we have already come to the inflorescence
(a terminal panicle or cymose cluster), the
aim and purpose of the growing process. With many beautifully colored, well-formed, deep funnel-shaped blossoms, the
inflorescence stands out clearly against the luxuriant foliage, and we see a
free, unfettered plant form, with no sign of spasm. Quite obviously, the
incoming flowering impulse has not led to the deformation of the rhythmic
system which we have seen in the other Solanaceae.
Our aesthetic sense permits us to call the tobacco species beautiful;
some have won a place in our gardens as ornamental plants, particularly the
graceful, sweet-scented nightflowering species with
their white flowers resembling narcissi, and slim horizontal trumpet shapes
reminding (Brugmansia).
However, in this genus, too, astral impulses normal to the floral region
have strayed beyond their limits of space and time, and permeated the whole
plant from the root upwards. This is apparent from the strongly aromatic and
resinous scent of leaf and stem, and from the fact that these plants develop
one of the most powerful poisons in the plant kingdom, Nicot.,
and related substances. But just as the form of the Nicotiana
species is of a different type to that of the deadly nightshades, so alkaloid Nicot. is quite different from substances such as hyoscyamine, Atro. and
scopolamine. Its chief characteristic is that it is a fluid, very volatile,
like a volatile oil; it is all the time subtly exhaled into the atmosphere from
the leaves. A fine poisonous mist floats above any tobacco field, with its
aromatic, musty scent.
The plant creates an air-form for itself, beyond the form that is
visible to the eye, and this air-form is filled with its specific nature. In
the tobacco plant as in the other Solanaceae, the
astral is impressed into the physical too early and too deeply, drawing part of
the plant processes into the element of astrality,
into the sphere of the air; it does not, however, deform the rhythmic system in
Nicotiana. An astral principle, something cosmic, is
caught up in the plant like the genie in the bottle; but in contrast to other Solanaceae here the stopper is taken out, the incarcerated
becomes free, surrounds the plant as a vaporous form and no longer makes its
impression upon the form of the plant (upon that which is formed out of solid
and fluid elements).
R.S.: described the action of tobacco poison. It affects chiefly the
circulation, speeding it up and making the heart beat faster. The respiratory
rate does not increase, so that the healthy ratio of pulse to breath which is
so very important for man (72 pulse beats to 18 breaths on average = 4:1), is upset. The blood receives
inadequate amounts of oxygen, resulting in a dyspnoea which the subject is not
aware of, and in connection with this an anxiety which also goes unnoticed. The
heart beats fast; its healthy relation to other organs such as the kidney, is
dislocated. The rhythm of life becomes too fast, and so does thinking activity.
Man wears himself out too quickly, damaging the heart through unconscious
anxiety states. R.S.: Nicot. addiction is in the
final instance due to the fact that for the last 3 or 4 centuries man has not
been sufficiently active in his spirit. Present-day aims do not lead to a true
interest in life; the sense organs are stimulated, and so is the rational mind
that is connected with them, but the blood is not stirred. Tobacco poison is
given the task of rousing the blood.
Nicot. does not have any visionary or hallucinatory
"narcotic" effects. Modern scientists are completely mystified by the
fact that smokers cannot do without tobacco, that tobacco has conquered the
whole of the world as no other substance has done, and has become a poison to
which all mankind is addicted. The Red Indians used it chiefly in their cults.
People whose psyche had been suitably prepared were given tobacco water to
drink and this brought them to a state close to death; by loosening the
spiritual members of man's being this made it possible for those people to see
the spheres of the spiritual world which open to man after death. It was then
possible to get in touch with the spirits of ancestors, etc. Tobacco was an
"initiation poison". It could only have this effect in races where
the constitution of the members of man's being was very specific, where the
force "holding together" the physical, the spiritual and the psychic
aspects was of a very specific type. At the same time it was necessary to make
the soul "transparent" for spiritual actions, so that it would not
allow any of its subjective spiritual and psychic contents to color its perceptions when in such a state. Those states
are not what smokers all over the world are after today. They merely want
relief from the discomfort of emptiness, and from the consequences, extending
right into the very blood, of the non-spiritual life which developed when man
turned exclusively to the material world. Occupation with this world led to 3
things: firstly the investigation of
its physical forces and laws; 2ndly, discovery and conquest of the
physical earth; and thirdly, atrophy and desolation of the psychic and
spiritual aspects of man's nature.
In this "move to the West", which in the final instance is a
taking hold of the forces of death, tobacco was discovered and appropriated; a
poison which for a time obligingly hides with its smoke the consequences of the
path taken by mankind. Man will overcome the need for tobacco when he
consciously grasps his own spirituality.
The actions of the tobacco plant on man, and its medicinal potential,
derive from the specific processes which have been outlined above. Part of the astrality which has taken hold of the whole plant is driven
out again by the strong forces of the rhythmic organization so that it forms an
airy principle around the plant, in the form of a vaporous sphere. The poison
of tobacco has been made volatile. Remedies prepared from tobacco leaves
influence the action of the astral body on the rhythmic organization of man;
the blood process is accelerated, the process of exhalation is
intensified, and the musculature of the blood vessels and of the respiratory
apparatus in influenced.
Asthma and vasospasm are thus among the indications. "Tobacco
regulates the activity of the astral body" is a general indication given
by R.S. In the digestive system, the astral body is helped to permeate the air
organization. Tobacco may be used to treat the severe flatulence and even
inhibition of intestinal action which result when the astral body is not
properly incorporated in this region.
R.S.: tobacco as a remedy not only regulates astral activity/compensates
for "atrophied" astral activity, for "deformations" of the
astral body which might become transferred
to the etheric and finally also to the
physical processes in the human organization.
Tobacco thus is a powerful remedy. Its effectiveness is, however,
impaired by the considerable use and abuse of tobacco by smokers. Habituation
leads to a dulling of response. At this point I should like to conclude the discussion
of Tabacum the main object of this book being to
describe the essential nature of the plant.
Details as to medicinal uses may be found in the anthroposophical
medical literature.
R.S.: "I cannot give you an opinion on this, I shall only base myself
on that which I have stated here from the standpoint of spiritual science. With
regard to Nicot., this may on occasion be a highly
dangerous stimulant, and we must be aware that something which is highly
dangerous for one person need not be so for another. All one can say is that
the action of Nicot. upon the organism is such that
it splits up the activity of the organism, that it splits up a certain group of
activities, those performed by the astral body in serving the physical body.
Part of the activities normally performed by the whole astral body are then
performed by only part of it, so that the astral body is, in a sense, partly
relieved. This may be harmless, but it may also have serious consequences,
depending on the individual case“.
[Johannes Wilkens]
‡ Nicotiana tabacum was one of the
plants most valued by Rudolf Steiner, yet no case reports on its use either
from anthroposophical or from homeopathic medicine
have appeared in recent years.
Experiences gleaned from toxicology and the
practical case reports of Ita Wegman
from her collaborative work with Rudolf Steiner, which were put down in writing
by Hilma Walter, point to a broad range of
applications.
Personal experiences are presented that
justify its use particularly in cases of "deformation" of the
personality, or "suicide on the installment
plan."
• Key Words
Hypoxic disorders
Death experiences
Single-case study
The History of Tobacco
On October 12, 1492, Christopher
Columbus discovered America. Within days of his landing on the Bahama Islands, he was struck by the observation that some
Indians carried with them dry leaves, "which must be highly prized among
them since they brought me the same thing in San Salvador".
When his scouts Rodrigo de Jerez and
Luis de Torres returned from the interior on November 6th, 1492, they were in a
position to report that many men and women held in their hand a burning coal of
smoldering aromatic herbs. One end of this they would
light, and from the other end they sucked in the smoke, by which practice they
became intoxicated and also apparently immune to fatigue. The "burning
coals," the original form of the cigar, were called tabacos
by these people.
Gonzales de Oviedo y Valdez, a friend of
the discoverer of America, reports: "Among their vices the Indians
practice a most pernicious one that consists of taking into themselves a kind
of smoke, called by them tabaco, in order to put
themselves into a stupor. For this purpose the caziques
take a tube forked in the shape of a Y, inserting the two ends of the fork into
their nostrils and the tube into a smoldering herb.
In this fashion they draw in the smoke once, twice, three times, four times—as
many times as they can before they drop senseless, stretched out as if
inebriated on the earth, where they fall into a deep and heavy sleep".
Tobacco pipes were used in North
America, while cigarillos wrapped in a maize leaf developed in the Andean
region. Paper was first used as a wrapper in Peru in the middle of the 18th
century. From seafarers and the "common" people smoking quickly
spread through Europe, eventually reaching the ruling caste. Initially the pipe
was the norm, later the cigar, and finally—since the end of World War II—the
cigarette.
The pipe, with its head, is preferred by
the intellectual (E. Bloch) with his orientation to the head pole. The cigar
(swollen chest) is associated with individuals who like feeling important and
powerful (Castro, Schwarzenegger, Clinton, Schröder).
The cigarette, finally, is the "fag" or "light" of the
masses, a nervous limb that is very well captured by the "HB-Männchen" of German cigarette ads in the nineteen
seventies. A further "democratization" has taken place in cigarette
smoking: It is now more common among women and young people than among men.
Mythology
Aztecs and Toltecs:
The goddess Cihuacoatl brought the tobacco plant from
the sky. The rain clouds were to them the smoke that the rain god Tlaloc let out of his pipe or his immense cigar of rolled
tobacco leaves.
Maya: the Balam,
the gods of the four winds, who devoted themselves to smoking. When they struck
fire to light their tabagos, violent thunderstorms
swept the world. Tobacco was sacred to the Indians. It was a stimulant used in
religious ceremonies or for states of exhaustion. With its help they sought
access to the nature divinity (the wind-rain divinity).
Effects and Toxicology
From the start, there has never been a
lack of voices decrying smoking. For a long time the smoking of tobacco was
officially prohibited in Europe. Smokers were threatened with the Inquisition
or execution. This heathen herb, it was argued, was not meant to be used by
Christians.
The first medical warnings were
expressed by the Dutch around 1590: Tobacco blackens the brain. Since that time
the effects of smoking have been thoroughly studied. Indeed, it may be said
that hardly any other drug has been so thoroughly studied as tobacco: According
to Estler the health risks of the constituents of
tobacco are based on a complex chemical assault with several hundred substances
(hydrocarbons/hydrogen cyanide/ammonia/alcohols/aldehydes/esters/oxides
of
Nitrogen/acids/nicotine (derivatives)
contained in the particle phase.
The CO content of mainstream cigar smoke
is 6%, that of cigarette smoke 4% and that of pipe smoke around 2%. After a
day's consumption of 20 cigarettes, around 5% COHb is
found in the blood. This can lead to polyglobuly in
the smoker, with increased erythrocytes and decreased plasma volume. In the
short term, carbon monoxide saturation can reach levels up to ¼ of the blood,
leading to a chronic O2 debt and resultant constant cerebral and cardiac
hypoxia. Parallel to this the heart rate is accelerated (sympathetic tonus).
The irritants contained in the smoke
lead to smoker's bronchitis with loss of the ciliated epithelium. The mortality
from chronic bronchitis and its sequelae is 20x
higher among smokers than among non-smokers (insufficiency, decompensated
cor pulmonale). Local
mucosal irritation leads to reduction of olfactory and taste capacity.
Along with the polonium, phenols,
vanadium and selenium, the tar contained in tobacco smoke appears to be the
chief causative factor in bronchial carcinoma.
It is a proven fact that among smokers
the rate of squamous cell carcinoma of the mucosa of
the respiratory tract is 11x higher in the bronchi and lungs and 5x higher in
the larynx and oral cavity. The rates of carcinomas of the esophagus,
stomach, pancreas, kidneys, prostate and urinary bladder are 1 – 2x higher.
The Alkaloid Nicotine
In 1560 Jean Nicot
de Villemain, the French ambassador to Portugal,
first became acquainted with tobacco and forthwith made a gift of seeds and a
plant to Catherine de' Medici. Soon the "herbe
de l’ambassadeur" (note the mercurial element in
the name itself) was being cultivated in Paris. It was under this name that
Carl Linnaeus introduced it into botany. In 1828 two students of chemistry and
medicine in Heidelberg, Karl Ludwig Reimann and
Christian Wilhelm Posselt, first succeeded in
isolating the main active substance of tobacco and gave it the name of
nicotine.
Pharmacokinetics
The alkaloid nicotine enters the body
from mainstream inhalation through the oral cavity and the alveoli. By
pulmonary resorption—bypassing the liver—it quickly
reaches its receptors in the heart and brain. Its elimination takes place oxidatively, largely through the liver. The elimination
half-life is 2 hours.
• Low concentrations stimulate
cholinergic and adrenergic ganglia. Higher concentrations paralyze them.
• The smoke of one cigarette leads to an
approx. 50% rise in noradrenaline and a 15% rise in
adrenaline.
• A release of vasopressin from the
posterior pituitary occurs. This increases gastrointestinal motility and
decreases appetite. By causing adrenaline secretion from the adrenal medulla,
nicotine also increases the concentration of cholesterol, free fatty acids and
glucose.
• The lethal dose is approx. 50 mg.
• Prolonged smoking causes damage to the
cardiocirculatory system:
• At 20 cigarettes/day, CHD with the
risk of a lethal myocardial infarction is 3 times more likely.
• Smoking can cause manifest
decompression of the heart. Decreased myocardial blood supply, atrial flutter, bundle branch block images and ventricular
flutter are also described.
• Peripheral blood vessels are
permanently damaged (thrombangiitis obliterans), leading in many cases to amputation.
• The risk of stomach and intestinal
ulcers is increased. Amblyopia is possible as a
result of primary degeneration of the retina and the optic nerve.
• Pregnant women who smoke are subject
to higher rates of premature birth and deformity as well as increased perinatal infant mortality. The most recent reports
indicate that children of smokers are more aggressive.
• Body weight is diminished due to
increased sympathetic tonus and associated glycogenolysis
and lipolysis, which may reach the point of cachexia. Premature aging.
• To this day, smoking remains a highly
potent and widespread tool for self-injury.
• "Apart from automobile exhaust,
there is probably no toxic product of civilization to which human beings
subject themselves and others so copiously, in full consciousness of its
potential consequences" (4).
Botany
Within a few months of planting the tiny
tobacco seeds, the grower will see his seedlings develop into large-leaved
plants that can reach the height of his head or higher. Like tomatoes, tobacco
prefers a muck-base medium such as manure.
Nicotiana tabacum is among the annual herbaceous plants of the
tropics and subtropics. Its leaves are particularly striking: Up to a meter
long, entire and stemless (being attached directly to
the stalk), they
lend the plant a dignified appearance.
There are 60 species in the Nicotiana genus of the Solanacea
(nightshade) family. In cultivation, Nicotiana rustica ("wild" or "Indian" tobacco)
and Nicotiana tabacum (a
hybrid derived from Nicotiana sylvestris
and Nicotiana tomentosiformis)
are used. Nicotiana rustica
tended to be used more in North America, Nicotiana tabacum in South America and the Caribbean. At harvest time
either the leaves or the whole stalk are taken.
The leaves are then dried until yellow.
From an esthetic
point of view Nicotiana tabacum
might be described as stately: The leaf series unfolds rhythmically and is
crowned by an un-cramped blossom rather untypical of the nightshades. As Pelikan aptly
puts it, "the entrance of the
blossoming impulse has not led to any deformation in the rhythmic system."
Astral impulses permeate the entire
plant. A powerfully aromatic, resinous odor is given
off by the leaves and stalk. The alkaloid develops in the root during the
growth phase only and migrates from there into the leaves. Nicotine is a fluid
and quite volatile substance much like an etheric oil
in nature. It continuously evaporates subtly into the atmosphere. "The
tobacco sphere" is to be found both in the plant (emanating from the root)
and_perhaps even more strongly_around
it (in the leaf realm) as a "vapor sphere."
Medical Use of Tobacco in History
In Europe, the news that Nicotiana tabacum had medical
uses as a remedy in wound healing and headaches was spread by Jean Nicot Sieur de Villemain (1530-1600).
Jean Liébault
(1535-1596) had already described tobacco as a curative plant par excellence
for various skin ailments, goiter formation, broken
limbs, redness of the face, headaches, stomach complaints and ulcers, poisonous
bites, worms, bruises, syphilis and dropsy. Liébault
was also the first to point to its specific anticatarrhal
action in the lungs, expelling the "flegmatic
humour."
It was Nicolás
Monardes of Seville who first made tobacco truly
famous as a medicinal plant. He was also the first to advocate its use as an
enema. Beyond the uses mentioned above, he recommended it for constipation, colics of the uterus, tooth aches and kidney pains. Monardes employed a tobacco syrup for asthma and stubborn
coughs, which he attributed to a "cold humour."
From this time on tobacco long remained
a panacea, conquering first Portugal, Spain and France, then central Europe. Matthiolus praises its virtues: "The juice, prepared
as a syrup / is good for old cough / constriction of the chest / and such
ailments / as come from cold, mucous humours."
In 16th and 17th century continental
herbals it is praised as "Indian henbane" or "Indian
comfrey." Up to the end of the 19th century it remained a highly prized
curative for ailments of all kinds.
Tobacco in Homeopathy
Since its remedy proving appeared in Hartlaub and Trinks, the
homeopathic use of tobacco has been confined chiefly to acute symptoms:
• Symptoms of collapse, e.g. after
smoking the first cigarette in childhood. Desire to keep abdomen uncovered.
Cold sweaty hands. Feeling of acute sickness.
• Nausea, deathly pallor, icy cold,
perspiration, intermittent pulse, collapse, total exhaustion.
• Seasickness. Utter physical misery and
dejection.
• Fear of imminent death. Dulled
thinking. Dizziness on opening the eyes. Clearing the throat, morning cough.
Persistent nausea. Vomiting of pregnancy.
• Cholera-like symptoms. In addition,
effects in chronic illnesses are known:
• Angina pectoris. Paralysis following
stroke. Shuffling gait.
• Migraine, Menière's
disease, cerebral sclerosis, vascular spasms. Angina pectoris. Dead fingers.
Chest cough. Nervous deafness. Amaurosis. Central scotoma.
Each of these symptoms bears a
relation—often expressed in the name itself—to death or deathlike processes
(fear of imminent death, dead fingers,
deathlike appearance, and sterbenselend. In
homeopathic therapy Tabacum is generally applied in
cases with acute symptoms (collapse). Its use in "chronic diseases"
is less familiar.
Tobacco in Anthroposophical
Medicine
Simonis
emphasizes that the alkaloid nicotine destroys the qualities of smell and taste
in the human being, thus restricting sensory perceptions. It causes an
acceleration of heart rate (sympathetic tonus) without a parallel increase in
respiratory frequency. Thus it literally tears the human being apart inside. In
a weakened rhythmic system the lungs and heart become dissociated, and thus too
the nerve-sense system and the metabolic-limb system. The smoker lives in a
state of constant oxygen debt, which leads on the soul level to persistent
anxiety. (Angst and anxiety are etymologically derived from a root meaning
"narrow" > narrowing of the blood vessels). R.S. attributes
nicotine addiction to a lack of interest in the life of the spirit. Only the
sense organs are stimulated, not the blood system. Practical applications of
tobacco by Rudolf Steiner in anthroposophical
medicine are reported by Hilma Walter in her three
books (6 – 8). These show how highly he valued it for practical treatment
purposes, as almost 10% of the cases described in them receive therapy with
tobacco (in most cases combined with other remedies). It was administered
variously as an enema or a compress and in various homeopathic potencies. The
reasons for the different forms of administration, however, are not (yet)
completely clear to me personally.
Conclusion
From the beginning, Nicotiana
tabacum has been connected with the discovery of
America; in fact one can practically call it the "poison" of America
("go West"), or the "nightshade (read: shadow side) of
America" (cf. also its use as a substitute currency after World War II).
In cases of increasing "westernization" of lifestyle (and illness
"style") it is of great benefit.
It is always a sound choice in cases
where "death (sclerotic) processes" dominate an individual due to
deficient "breathing" in the widest sense_i.e.,
where a weak rhythmic system becomes overly formed by the head-pole (a gibbus is an example of an incipient misplaced head-forming
process affecting the rhythmic system). Simplifying Steiner's image and
applying it to the physiological level, one can say that matter—the physical
body—is not "spiritually interested." Not being permeated by breath,
it suffers from oxygen "debt."
As a rule, Tabacum
patients are "materialists," and when they begin to age (if not
sooner) they actually become physical images of materialism, manifesting
pronounced hardening processes (e.g. cerebral sclerosis). On the other hand Tabacum is a remedy of choice in all cases where traumatic
events cause the I-organization and astral body to "spasm" and get
stuck in specific organ regions (e.g. the solar plexus and lungs) and is unable
to give form to the body, thus possibly leading to physical deformities or to
"hypoxic brain injuries." (The astral body, the "god of the
wind" whose function is permeating with breath, can no longer properly
reach the ether body, the fluid body, the "rain god.")
In skull/brain traumas its highly
beneficial action is seen especially in the mnestic
functions.
The examples detailed above have
demonstrated that the use of Tabacum in homeopathic
potencies can bring about significant improvement, even complete healing, in
cases of severest "deformity" affecting particularly the rhythmic
system.
Very often good to excellent results are
observed precisely in those patients who smoke or once smoked themselves. As a
rule, these patients seek or sought the spirit in too physical a way (smoke as
a symbol of the spirit). No differences among potencies have been found to
date. Tabacum D6, D12 and D30 are all used in our
practice and they appear to be equally effective. This is an aspect that
requires careful further study.
In an article very much worth reading
(perhaps the best article on the subject to date), Suchantke
expressed praise of Nicotiana in the treatment of
bronchial asthma. His article can be read as complementary to the results
presented here and can deepen the points we have made.
To summarize, the practical applications
of Tabacum are as follows:
1. A significant remedy for hypoxic
brain injury
2. One of the most important remedies in
treating bronchial asthma
3. An excellent remedy for stroke in
smokers
4. Cerebral sclerosis and dementia
5. A good remedy after heart attack in
combination with Mag-p. and Strophantus
6. Very good efficacy in COPD and
emphysema
7. Good efficacy in PAOD (peripheral
arterial occlusive disease)
8. For cachectic
conditions
9. Raynaud's
disease
10. Suicide (smoking = "suicide on
the installment plan")
11. Collapse
12. Sequelae
of breathing support
13. Very likely a valuable remedy in pediatrics for removing the negative effects of parent's
smoking on their infants and children, as well as in adolescence for Scheuermann's disease (juvenile disc disorder) (Disci cum Nicotiana)
14. For patients whose
spiritual-physical constitution has been "loosened" by culture shock
(e.g., by a visit to India) and find themselves troubled by all manner of
"spirits," it may be tried as an injection in high potency (DD. Olibanum). ‡
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum