Tobacco industry

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Tobacco
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The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products.^[1] It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all continents except Antarctica.

According to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the "tobacco industry" encompasses tobacco manufacturers, wholesale distributors and importers of tobacco products. This evidence-based treaty expects its 181 ratified member states to implement public health policies with respect to tobacco control "to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke."^[2]

Tobacco, one of the most widely used addictive substances in the world,^[3] is a plant native to the Americas and historically one of the most important crops grown by American farmers.^[4] More specifically, tobacco refers to any of various plants of the genus Nicotiana (especially N. tabacum) native to tropical America and widely cultivated for their leaves, which are dried and processed chiefly for smoking in pipes, cigarettes, and cigars; it is also cut to form chewing tobacco or ground to make snuff or dipping tobacco, as well as other less common preparations. From 1617 to 1793, tobacco was the most valuable cash crop export from British North America and the United States.^[5] Until the 1960s, the United States grew, manufactured and exported more tobacco than any other country.^[6]

Tobacco is an agricultural commodity product, similar in economic terms to agricultural foodstuffs: the price is in part determined by crop yields, which vary depending on local weather conditions. The price also varies by specific species or cultivar grown, the total quantity on the market ready for sale, the area where it is grown, the health of the plants, and other characteristics individual to product quality.

Since 1964, conclusive medical evidence of the deadly effects of tobacco consumption has led to a sharp decline in official support for producers and manufacturers of tobacco, although it contributes to the agricultural, fiscal, manufacturing, and exporting sectors of the economy. Policy and law restricting tobacco smoking has increased globally, but almost 6 trillion cigarettes are still produced each year, representing an increase of over 12% since the year 2000.^[7] Tobacco is often heavily taxed to gain revenues for governments and as an incentive for people not to smoke.^[8]