‘Tobacco consumption responsible for 8 million deaths yearly’

Gabriel Olaiya Omotoso, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has said that tobacco smoking “causes more than 8 million deaths yearly.”

Omotoso stated this while delivering the 259th Inaugural Lecture of the Uuniversity, adding that the latest global estimate of tobacco users is 1.25 billion people, 80% of which are in low- and middle-income countries.

The Inaugural Lecture, entitled, “White Matter Matters in the Search for Phytochemical Candidates for Demyelinating Disorders”, the University lecturer posited that out of the 8 million yearly deaths from tobacco usage, “1.3 million are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke”

Omotoso, however, noted that “despite a great deal of health education and awareness on the grave implications of cigarette smoking, many people are still caught in the web of the habit, pointing out that in Nigeria for instance, 10 per cent of the population smoke tobacco daily”.

The don identified some adverse consequences of cigarette smoke on different organs of the body as including its adverse effects on male gonads and reproduction/fertility, adding that passive cigarette smoke also detrimentally affects adult brains.

To curb the menace of cigarette smoke, Omotoso identified “the need for all of us to arise and protect our children from tobacco industry interference”.

The Inaugural lecturer also called on the Government to enforce Tobacco Production laws in the Country, stressing the need for the government to “take a cue from other countries, such as New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia to effect this”.

He recommended urgent need for public enlightenment programme to educate the society about the harmful effect of cigarette smoke.

Omotoso, who underscored improved access to diagnostic tools to mitigating the challenge of disease diagnosis in the Country, pointed out that “tobacco smoking, whether actively or passively, is deadly.”