The Industry of Tobacco - Term Paper Example

? Globalisation and the Spread of Tobacco Seminar Word Count: 2002 Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 2. Findings 4 2.1 Tobacco History 4 2.2 The Tobacco Industry 5 2.4 Medical problems associated with tobacco 7 2.5 Globalisation 8 3. Conclusion 10 Bibliography 11 Executive Summary The development of the industry of tobacco is problematic on a number of different social levels. The product causes a great number of health risks, all of which outweigh any type of benefit that one might argue. On the other hand, the number of jobs and social dynamics that are dependent on the industry make it difficult to eliminate tobacco growth. The increased knowledge in the Western nations makes it a declining industry that must now look to other markets in order to sustain the businesses that depend on tobacco. Because many third world nations have no regulation and little taxation on the product, a growing dependency on exporting tobacco has become one of the ways in which the industry is sustaining and growing its revenue. The proliferation in nations with little regulations, however, is supporting the growth of an industry that creates increase in diseases that were previously not prevalent in these nations. While it is difficult to completely end the growth of tobacco and the proliferation of cigarettes around the world, the exploitation of nations that have yet to reach an enlightened position on the use of tobacco allows an industry that is built on addiction to have greater market potential which supports an industry that should be on the decline and eventually phased out of existence. Globalisation and the Spread of Tobacco 1. Introduction The tobacco industry is in decline in Western civilisation which have begun to accept that smoking is bad for good health and that in doing so the consequences are far worse than the pleasure. In order to continue revenue increases and to have successful business practices, tobacco industries are looking towards developing nations who have yet to discover the ill effects to the extent of avoiding the use of the harmful plant and its resulting product. In order to protect nations without regulatory standards and practices in regard to cigarette sales, protestors have petitioned for legislation that would restrict the sales and distribution of the products of the tobacco industry. The development of restrictions for the sale of tobacco would increase the overall condition of health throughout the world, not just in Western nations. While the tobacco industry needs to look towards globalisation in order to increase their revenue and sales, it is essential that legislation be put into place to thwart the attempts of the industry to sell to developing nations in order to protect the health and well-being of people of all corners of the world. 2. Findings 2.1 Tobacco History Tobacco was first found in Peru and is a native to the Americas. The plant can be traced back 5000 years to Peru and Ecuador and was cultivated for both its medicinal value and as a product burned to be used during spiritual ceremonies. The smoke seemed to climb to the gods, thus providing a connection between humankind. When Columbus landed in the New World, some of his people became addicted to smoking through the gifts that the native population gave to the new arrivals. The use of tobacco was ritualistic to the Native Americans, but to the Europeans the addictive properties became more mundane and the birth of the tobacco industry was born of their need (Pampel 2009, p. 2). Tobacco was first brought back to Spain and Portugal during the mid 16th century and it was mostly cultivated as a medicinal plant once in the European nations. It was brought to England during the same time period by explorers John Hawkins, Walther Raleigh, and Francis Drake where the burning of the leaves was the more common use for the product, the pipe taking on a particular popularity. Smoking was a popular habit for the William Shakespeare Company and Walter Raleigh even made a gift of some of it to an aging Queen Elizabeth I. King James I, however, wrote a pamphlet that condemned the product because the damage that the habit created was obvious even without modern medical knowledge (Pampel 2009, p. 6) 2.2 The Tobacco Industry The tobacco industry depends on the young in order to have lifelong customers. Just like the use of tobacco by Native American youths to indicate a rite of passage into adulthood, the idea that smoking denotes maturity has been one of the attractions to trying the drug. This was extended through the use of cartoon characters as marketing tools by the tobacco industry that was attempting to attract younger users. Camel cigarettes were promoted by the cartoon Joe the Camel through which an appeal was made to a very young customer base. In 1992, a year after the character made its debut, the Surgeon General of the United States asked for the campaign to be ended, along with appeals to other companies to end similar types of advertising for tobacco products. In 1997, after public pressure began to be more important than the use of the character, Joe the Camel was pulled from advertising. Statistics in the United States, where the tobacco industry has the strongest presence, show that yearly deaths of smoking related illnesses add up to 440,000 people with a shortened life expectancy by 13-14 years from that of non-smokers (Pampel 2009, p. 1). In the UK smoking decreased from 28% of the population smoking in 1996 to 24% in 2005. This means that 1 million fewer smokers were observed in 2005 than in 1996 (Holland 2008, p. 140). Western cultures are recognizing that the habit of smoking causes the loss of health through a number of different reasons. On the other hand, the tobacco industry is an important part of the overall GDP in the United States. 80% of all tobacco used in Europe is imported from the United States (Haustein and Groneberg 2010, p. 414). Greece is the only nation that can produce a similar or superior quality of tobacco but only produces 3% of that used in Europe (Haustein and Groneberg 2010, p. 416). About 200,000 people are employed in the EU toward the production of tobacco, with 100 million people employed worldwide in the industry. Only about 1.2 million people are employed in the manufacturing end of the industry with 40 million working on farms and another 20 million working in home industries where cigars and cigarettes are rolled (International Labor Organization 2003). This figure also includes those working in the anti-tobacco organizations. In the United States a decline in marketing opportunities for tobacco has created a problem in both production and in the future of the industry. The number of farms has decreased and many states that once held auctions for the product no longer have auctions for the production of tobacco. Contracts have become a more often type of production dynamic in which contractors sign a year contract with producers to purchase the crops in order to support continued production. Tobacco growers who could only find one buyer during a given year rose from 24% to 37% from 2004 to 2008. This stemmed from the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004. This act removed restrictions that designated volume and location for growing tobacco, but also removed price supports that had kept prices high and lucrative. 2.4 Medical problems associated with tobacco Tobacco causes a great deal of medical problems for users. The first is an addiction that requires the user to have tobacco at regular intervals throughout the day, dependent upon the habits of use that the user cultivates. The number of deaths in Britain recorded in 1997 was 628,000 deaths with 117,000 of those attributed to smoking as the general cause (Royal College of Physicians of London 2000,p. 16). More recent literature shows that in the EU there is an approximate 650,000 deaths per year with another 80,000 people killed from passive inhalation of smoke (Rassool 2010, p. 92). In addition to the addictive properties of cigarette smoking, malnutrition, increased health care costs, and death that comes prematurely can also be the result of smoking (Rassool 2010, p. 91). The World Health Organisation has instated a global effort to thwart the sales of cigarettes through a campaign that was put into the public in 2003. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was intended as a response to the globalisation of cigarette sales. The initiative intends to address advertising campaigns and relevant supply and demand issues that promote the sales of cigarettes in developing nations as well as traditional Western markets. The WHO considered nicotine addiction as a psychoactive substance use disorder, the legality of tobacco having no influence on the classification of the addiction as a legitimized disorder (Rassool 2010, p. 92). 2.5 Globalisation The globalisation of the tobacco industry is a two pronged problem. On the one hand it is a solution for the declining market of tobacco in Western societies, helping to preserve the jobs that the industry creates and supporting the industry through increased distribution. On the other hand, it promotes a dangerous and unhealthy habit that has a determined set of consequences that impact the overall health of a population that smokes without the cautions of governments that are trying to reduce smoking and the medical costs that the habit causes. Globalisation of the tobacco industry has resulted in globalisation of advocates for cigarette smoking prevention. The example of Thailand has shown that globalisation of prevention initiatives can thwart the entry of the tobacco industry into nations that might otherwise be vulnerable to the product. In the 1980s the aggressive nature of the US Trade Representative office was used in order to enter into the Asian market for the tobacco industries. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were all pressured into putting cigarettes into their markets, which resulted in a high demand for the product through the influence of advertising and aggressive marketing. Female teens, particularly, began smoking five times more than previously reported. Thailand, on the other hand, did not give into pressures by the US to allow for marketing of cigarettes in their nation. The nation drafted one of the strictest regulatory systems against the tobacco companies in the world, setting an example for the region (Kawachi and Wamala 2007, p. 54). The internet is causing problems for the cigarette companies as well. Where company representatives would enter nations without disclosing their purposes and manipulating the markets in order to promote cigarette use, these people are now identified by organisations against the tobacco company before they can accomplish their goals (Kawachi and Wamala 2007, p. 55). Organised efforts throughout the world towards the elimination of the tobacco presence have been somewhat effective due to the use of the internet and the availability of information on smoking. Globalisation, however, is a serious concern for the tobacco companies. Problems emerge where differences in law promote consequences for the experience of tobacco in a nation. Countries such as Argentina, Ireland, Israel, Finland, France, and Japan have all had lawsuits come out of them over the resulting health issues that come from smoking (Kawachi and Wamala 2007, p. 55). In South Africa regulatory activities have restricted the sale of cigarettes as well as other nations within the continent of Africa in order to combat the influence of the tobacco companies on their people. The development of markets outside of their home nations is one of the ways that the tobacco companies intend to extend their existence within the world. Without expanded markets, the development of the companies will continue to decline and the diminishment of tobacco use will eventually run them out of business. 3. Conclusion Globalisation is an important factor in the continued success for tobacco companies because they are depending on the idea that under developed nations will not have the sophistication to regulate or tax their products. The good news is that world organisations have taken an interest in this marketing concept and have intercepted the tobacco industry while it pursues markets outside of the Western world. It is fortunate that world organisations have begun to intercede on behalf of the people in these nations and to shut down the companies, sometimes before they get a foothold in nations. The proliferation of the addiction to tobacco is blight upon the health of the world and spreading it is undignified as the tobacco industry fights for survival. Protestors argue that regulations and legislation should be put into place in order to protect people from the effects of nicotine addiction and the need for cigarettes which not only plague the health, but have high costs and eventually become a financial burden. The tobacco industry is a dinosaur that should become extinct so that its dangers no longer take the lives of so many people. Even though the industry employs a great number of people, it would not be the first industry to become extinct because of modern understanding about its products. Through humane uses of the power to influence, the tobacco industry should be phased. Bibliography Beasley, R., & Danesi, M. (2002). Persuasive signs: The semiotics of advertising. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Haustein, K.O., & Groneberg, D. (2010). Tobacco or health?. Berlin: Springer. Holland, K. (2008). Applying the Roper-Logan-Tierney model in practice. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. Kawachi, I., and Wamala, S. P. (2007). Globalization and health. New York: Oxford University Press. International Labor Organization. (23 September 2003). ILO: Up in smoke, what future for tobacco jobs? International Labor Organization.[Online] Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/features/WCMS_071230/lang--en/index.htm (Accessed 7 October 2012). Pampel, F. C. (2009). Tobacco industry and smoking. New York, NY: Facts On File. Rassool, G. H. (2010). Addiction for nurses. Chichester, West Sussex: Blackwell Pub. Royal College of Physicians of London. (2000). Nicotine addiction in Britain: A report of the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians. London: Royal College of Physicians of London. Read More