The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

People in Africa are vulnerable to tobacco in two distinct ways: as producers of tobacco leaf and as consumers of tobacco products. In both cases, tobacco increases their vulnerability and exacerbates endemic poverty on the continent.

In Africa, tobacco perpetuates a pernicious cycle of poverty. In countries like Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where tobacco is grown, the money that is earned from producing tobacco leaf is small, especially by comparison with the huge profits that are earned in the industrialized countries like Britain and the United States of America, where the raw material is turned into the manufactured product. Tobacco farmers are frequently locked into vicious cycles of debt. Plants and other supplies are provided on credit, to be paid for when the tobacco is harvested. Frequently, after harvest, there is not enough money left to support the family for the coming year. Tobacco farming involves the use of highly toxic pesticides and herbicides, which have serious negative health consequences for the workers, many of whom are women and children. In addition, there are alarming negative environmental, health and lifestyle consequences that arise from the flue curing process which involves burning large amounts of wood.

The tobacco industry regards Africa, where advertising is still largely unrestricted, as a potentially lucrative market for its addictive products. Cigarette advertisements, which generally equate smoking with good living, can be very effective in poor communities. The cost of purchasing cigarettes, to which people become addicted, perpetuates poverty.