Glossary
Addiction – Physiological or psychological dependence on a substance characterized by neurochemical changes, compulsive drug-seeking behavior, dose tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, uncontrolled craving, and self-destructive behavior. Common addictive drugs include alcohol, opiates, and nicotine.
Advertising – Any commercial effort to promote tobacco consumption, including the display of trademarks, brand names, and manufacturer logos; marketing of tobacco products; sponsorship of sports and other social and cultural activities; and other methods.
BCE – Before the Common Era
Billion – 1,000 million
Bupropion – An antidepressant pharmaceutical used as a smoking cessation aid. A norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor as well as a nicotinic antagonist, bupropion was first approved for smoking cessation in 1997.
Cancer – A type of disease in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably. Cancer cells can invade nearby tissues and spread through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to other parts of the body. Tobacco consumption significantly increases incidence and mortality due to many types of cancer, especially cancers of the lung and oral cavity. Tobacco is also associated with cancers of the pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney, bladder, colon, and other organs.
Carcinogen – A substance that causes cancer. Tobacco contains many potent chemical carcinogens, including tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA s), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH s), and volatile organic compounds (VOC s).
Chronic bronchitis – Inflammation of the bronchial mucous membrane characterized by cough, hypersecretion of mucus, and expectoration of sputum over a long period of time, associated with increased vulnerability to bronchial infection. Smoking greatly increases incidence of chronic bronchitis and risk of death due to respiratory disease.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – A chronic lung disease, such as asthma or emphysema, in which breathing becomes slowed or forced. Smoking increases risk of death due to COPD and other respiratory diseases. See also Chronic bronchitis.
Consumption – Total cigarette consumption is the number of cigarettes sold annually in a country, usually in millions of sticks. Total cigarette consumption is calculated by adding a country’s cigarette production and imports and subtracting exports. “Per adult” cigarette consumption is calculated by dividing total cigarette consumption by the total population of those who are 15 years and older. Smuggling may account for inaccuracies in these estimates.
Contraband – Smuggled, counterfeit, or otherwise illicit products. See also Illicit trade in tobacco products.
Coronary artery disease – Also known as coronary heart disease. The narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries (blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to the heart) usually caused by atherosclerosis (a build-up of fatty material [cholesterol] and plaque inside the coronary arteries). Tobacco consumption greatly increases the incidence and mortality due to coronary artery diseases.
Costs – Macroeconomic costs associated with tobacco use.
Direct costs: Health costs related to diseases caused by tobacco; health-care costs, such as hospital services, physician and outpatient services, prescription drugs, nursing home services, home health care, allied health care; changed expenditures due to increased utilization of services.
Indirect costs: Productivity costs caused by tobacco-related illness or premature death; loss of productivity and earnings.
Total costs: The sum of direct and indirect tobacco-attributable costs to society.
Cotinine – Nicotine’s major metabolite. Because cotinine has a significantly longer half-life than nicotine, cotinine measurement can be used to estimate tobacco exposure levels. Cotinine is commonly measured in blood serum, urine, and saliva.
Counterfeit tobacco products – Illegally manufactured cigarettes or other products bearing a trademark without the consent of the trademark owner. See also Illicit trade in tobacco products.
Emphysema – A pathological condition of the lungs marked by an abnormal increase in the size of the air spaces, resulting in labored breathing and an increased susceptibility to infection. It can be caused by irreversible expansion of the alveoli or by the destruction of alveolar walls. Smoking is a major risk factor for emphysema.
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) – See Secondhand smoke (SHS ).
Excess mortality – The amount by which death rates for a given population group (e.g., smokers) exceeds that of another population group chosen as a reference or standard (e.g., nonsmokers).
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – The World Health Organization (WHO ) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC ) is the first global treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization. WHO FCTC establishes the international public health and legal template for national tobacco control activities.
Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) – The World Health Organization (WHO ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) developed the GYTS to track tobacco use among young people across countries using a common methodology and core questionnaire.
GNI – Gross national income.
Harm reduction – A public health philosophy that seeks to mitigate health hazards by replacing highrisk products or activities with lower-risk products or activities. In tobacco control, harm reduction is proposed for smokers who do not want to stop smoking or are unable to do so despite many attempts. Harm reduction seeks to reduce the adverse health effects of smoking by removing harmful constituents or encouraging smokers to switch to alternative modes of tobacco consumption that are considered less harmful than smoking—for example, smokeless tobacco. The approach is controversial because all forms of tobacco consumption are harmful, and medically acceptable smoking cessation approaches do not employ tobacco as a cessation aid.
Health professionals – Dentists, health science practitioners, hospital staff, medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, ancillary medical staff, and students in these disciplines.
Health warnings – Government-mandated medical statements or graphic images placed on tobacco products, packaging, or advertisements. Illicit manufacturing – Illegal manufacturing of tobacco products in defiance of tax, licensing, or monopolistic laws that restrict the manufacture of tobacco products. See also “Illicit trade in tobacco products.”
Illicit trade in tobacco products – Any practice or conduct prohibited by law, relating to production, shipment, receipt, possession, distribution, sale, or purchase of tobacco products, including any practice or conduct intended to facilitate such activity. See also Contraband, Counterfeit tobacco products, Illicit manufacturing, and Smuggling.
Ingredient – Every component of the tobacco product that is smoked or chewed, including all genetically modified, blended, and introduced components, additives, flavorings, and other constituents, including paper, ink, adhesives, hardening agents, filters, and other materials used in the manufacturing process and present in the finished product in burned or unburned form.
Marketing – A range of activities aimed at ensuring the continued sales and profitability of a product, including advertising, promotion, public relations, and sales.
Nicotiana tabacum – The tobacco plant. Its leaves contain high levels of the addictive chemical nicotine and many cancer-causing chemicals, especially polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH s). The leaves may be smoked (in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes), applied to the gums (as dipping and chewing tobacco), or inhaled (as snuff). Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes many types of cancer, as well as heart, respiratory, and other diseases.
Nicotine – An addictive, poisonous alkaloid chemical found in tobacco. It is also a stimulant that increases heart rate and oxygen use by cardiac muscle. Nicotine is also used as an insecticide. The lethal dose for a human adult is about 50mg.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) – A type of smoking cessation treatment that provides low doses of nicotine to ease cravings experienced by addicted smokers. NRT s include devices such as transdermal patches, nicotine gum, nicotine nasal sprays, and inhalers.
Passive smoking – Inhaling cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke produced by another individual. See also Secondhand smoke (SHS ).
Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) – A type of organic compound composed of several benzene rings. PAH s, many of which are carcinogenic, are produced during charbroiling of meat, incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, and the burning of tobacco. Tobacco smoke is the most common source of human exposure.
Prevalence – Smoking prevalence is the percentage of smokers in the total population. Adult smoking prevalence is usually defined as the percentage of smokers among those aged 15 years and older.
Promotion – Special offers, gifts, price discounts, coupons, company websites, specialty item distribution, telephone solicitation, and other methods to facilitate the sale or placement of cigarettes. Also includes allowances paid to cigarette retailers, wholesalers, fulltime company employees, and all other persons involved in cigarette distribution.
Retailer – A person engaged in a business that includes the sale of tobacco products to consumers.
Risk – The likelihood of incurring a particular event or circumstance (e.g., risk of disease measures the chance of an individual contracting a disease).
Secondhand smoke (SHS) – Smoke inhaled by an individual not actively engaged in smoking. SHS is composed of mainstream smoke (exhaled by smokers) and sidestream smoke (from the tip of the cigarette, cigar, or pipe). Secondhand smoke contains the same harmful chemicals that smokers inhale. Also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS ) or passive smoking.
Smoke-free area – Area where smoking or holding a lighted cigarette, cigar, or pipe is prohibited.
Smokeless tobacco – Snuff, chewing tobacco, and other forms of tobacco used orally; not a safe alternative to smoking. Smokeless tobacco is as addictive as smoking, and it causes cancer of the gum, cheek, lip, mouth, tongue, and throat.
Smoker – Someone who smokes any tobacco product either daily or occasionally.
Smuggling – The illegal importation of products. See also Illicit trade in tobacco products.
Large-scale organized smuggling of tobacco products: illegal transportation, distribution, and sale of large consignments of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Small-scale smuggling or “bootlegging”: individual or small group purchases of tobacco products in low-price jurisdictions in amounts that exceed the limits set by customs regulations, for resale in high-price jurisdictions.
Stroke – An abnormal condition in which a blood vessel in the brain bursts or is clogged by a blood clot leading to the death of brain cells. Strokes usually result in temporary or permanent neurological deficits and/or death. Smoking significantly increases the risk of stroke.
Tar – The raw anhydrous nicotine-free condensate of smoke.
Tar and nicotine yield – The amount of tar and nicotine in one cigarette, as determined by a machine designed to measure the chemical content of cigarette smoke. Machine yields of cigarette tar and nicotine levels may not reflect the actual level of exposure experienced by smokers. See also Tobacco smoke condensate.
Tobacco attributable mortality – The number of deaths attributable to tobacco use within a specific population
Tobacco control organization – A nonprofit organization with a goal of reducing tobacco consumption or protecting nonsmokers from the effects of secondhand smoke.
Tobacco industry documents – Previously secret, internal industry records that are now available in the public domain as a result of court rulings.
Tobacco product – Any product manufactured wholly or partly from tobacco that is ingested by smoking, inhalation, chewing, sniffing, or sucking.
Tobacco production – The volume of actual tobacco leaves harvested from the field, excluding harvesting and threshing losses and any part of the unharvested tobacco crop.
Tobacco smoke condensate (TSC) – Sticky particles comprising thousands of chemicals created by burning tobacco.
Tobacco-specific nitrosamine (TSN or TSNA) – A group of seven toxic chemicals found only in tobacco products. N’-nitrosonornicotine (NNN ), (4-methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK ), and N-oxide, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl Noxide)-1-butanol (NNAL ; a metabolic product of NNK ) are the most carcinogenic.
Tobacco taxes – The sum of all types of taxes levied on tobacco products. There are two basic methods of tobacco taxation:
Nominal or specific taxes: Based on a set amount of tax per unit (e.g., cigarette) or gram of tobacco. These taxes are often differentiated according to the type of tobacco product (e.g., filtered vs. nonfiltered cigarettes, pipe tobacco vs. cigars).
Ad valorem taxes: Assessed as a percentage markup on some determined value (tax base), usually the retail selling price of tobacco products or a wholesale price. These taxes include any value-added tax (VAT ) where applicable.
Tobacco use – The consumption of tobacco products by burning, chewing, inhalation, or other forms of ingestion.
Varenicline – A pharmaceutical smoking cessation aid that acts as a partial agonist of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. It became available beginning in 2006.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) – An organic (carbon-containing) compound that evaporates at room temperature. VOC s contribute significantly to indoor air pollution and respiratory disease.
