Highlights: WHO warns of the waste that tobacco cultivation represents. 3 million hectares used to make cigarettes while hunger is increasing in the world. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in France, with some 75,000 deaths each year. Public Health France publishes on May 31 a survey on the latest estimates of smoking prevalence in France among adults aged 18 to 75. As of 2022, the France still has nearly 12 million daily smokers. The number of smokers remains at a high level. In 2022, more than three out of ten French people smoked tobacco, a quarter of them smoked every day.

Some 300 million people are food insecure. Eight million deaths are due to tobacco every year. A priori, the two figures have nothing to do with each other. A priori only....

World No Tobacco Day

Tobacco cultivation, a health, agricultural and economic heresy

Some 300 million people are food insecure. Eight million deaths are due to tobacco every year. A priori, the two figures have nothing to do with each other. A priori only. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, the WHO warns of the waste that tobacco cultivation represents: 3 million hectares used to make cigarettes while hunger is increasing in the world. A sanitary, agricultural and even economic heresy.

At a tobacco field in the western province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, February 26, 2008. © Ariana Cubillos / AP Photo

Text by: RFI Follow

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With our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche

While the percentage of areas dedicated to tobacco cultivation has tended to decrease over the past 15 years, this is not the case in Africa where it is exploding, + 20% over the same period, and often in countries exposed to food insecurity, such as Malawi. The strategy of tobacco groups is often the same, denounces Dr. Rudiger Krech of the WHO: contractualize farmers and force them to produce more and more to repay their debt.

Growing tobacco requires a lot of investment in seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, he says. The tobacco groups advance this money to the farmers and the farmers have to repay them when they sell their produce. It is a vicious circle, in which peasants become dependent on industrialists. If they grew something else, they would earn three times as much.

>> Also listen: The health harms of tobacco

A drama for children

Unprofitable, tobacco cultivation is also dangerous for all those who work in the fields. "1.3 million children work on tobacco plantations," says Dr. Rudiger Krech. You have to know that when you work and breathe in the middle of the tobacco fields, it's like smoking 50 cigarettes a day... It's already terrible for an adult so imagine for a child.

Together with other agencies, including the World Food Programme, WHO has launched a project to help farmers switch to more useful and profitable production; 5,000 farmers in Kenya and Zambia are expected to benefit.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in France, with some 75,000 deaths each year

Public Health France publishes on May 31 a survey on the latest estimates of smoking prevalence in France among adults aged 18 to 75. As of 2022, the France still has nearly 12 million daily smokers. The number of smokers remains at a high level. In 2022, more than three out of ten French people smoked tobacco, a quarter of them smoked every day. Men smoke more than women, their consumption is stabilizing, it had increased between 2019 and 2021 due to the health crisis.

Another observation, the most formidable, social inequalities in terms of smoking continue to widen: the poorer you are and the more you are without a diploma, the more you smoke. Not surprisingly and still according to the health-tobacco barometer, the unemployed toast more cigarettes than people who work. Another topic analyzed: vaping tends to increase, a little more than 40% of 18-75 year olds say they have experimented with electronic cigarettes. And they are 5% to vape every day. Finally, a result is considered encouraging by Public Health France, nearly six out of ten daily smokers want to quit. The survey authors stress that it is fundamental to strengthen tobacco control policies in France.

♦ Report from Mexico

In Mexico, a rather strict smoke-free law came into effect in early 2023. It prohibits smoking areas in public establishments, bars, restaurants, etc. even in the open air, including in some busy streets, and prohibits any type of advertising or presentation of cigarette packs in shops. A law that hoped to help dissuade the 19 million Mexican smokers from continuing, but in fact, six months later, what is the result?

In fact, no decrease in consumption is visible. And no sanctions were rendered. Tobacco continues to be sold and consumed unchecked in Mexico. According to Adriana Camarena of the NGO Saludhable, the effects of these new measures are not up to par. "We now have a strong law that gives us tools and would allow us to have tobacco control for the good of the population in terms of disease reduction, prevalence of underage use and number of deaths. But we are far from improving the figures, precisely because we are unable to implement these measures. Legally, the law is contested: Erick Ochoa denounces a fierce reaction from the tobacco industry and large chain stores that sell cigarettes. "They have presented an avalanche of procedures that attack two crucial points: the ban on the presentation of cigarette packs in points of sale and the other measure they want to do away with the ban on smoking in enclosed spaces." Since January, 2,500 legal actions have been filed, some of which have resulted in a suspension of the law in the name of economic interests.

Tobacco cultivation, a health, agricultural and economic heresy

Tobacco cultivation, a health, agricultural and economic heresy

A drama for children

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