Thursday, September 28, 2017

Real Medicines, All Natural Herbs For Longevity

Click the name of the herb you  are interested in for more information.  Except when noted these are all grown by me at my farm in Deming NM, delivered washed, dried, fresh, all weights represent dried product.

The Rosy Periwinkle, Vinca rosea
$12.00 per ounce

Canchre piedra, Phyllanthus niruri, Stonebreaker
 $6.00 per ounce


Catnip, Nepeta cataria
 $6.00 per ounce
 
Chaparrel, creosote, greasewood
$2.00 per ounce

Epazote, Dysphania ambrosioides, formerly Chenopodium ambrosioides
 $6.00 per ounce


Natural Tobacco
$3.00 per ounce
 

Oyster mushroom (Lovastatin in naturalform)
 $4.00 per ounce
 

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis
Powder, $7.00 per ounce
 
St. Johns Wort

$5.00 per ounce

Valerian, Valeriana officinalis
 $5.00 per ounce


Yucca root
$3.00 per ounce

 Cancer has become the greatest treasure chest EVER for the ghouls and half wits of "Approved" medicine.  Their government profit matrix attacks us through our food to keep the profit machine running.  The best thing you can do to stop cancer is stop eating all sugar.  Most everything that eats people is after the sugar we ingest.  Once you try to stop eating sugar, except for fruits, you will see that we are attacked by our own "People" because there is sugar in almost EVERYTHING, and some very harmful types too. 

To be fair,  many doctors can help with advice and drugs, and will do so, but most of them see hundreds of patients, and they do not have the time or intellectual wherewithal to really care about all those people.  They do care
a lot about their money though.
 

Bloodroot is the plant that woke me up to the idea that we have been through all this before, because we suffer what is called Periodic Cataclysm, a by-product of our planets sinusoidal traverse across the galactic plane, and the subsequent collisions with relatively static clouds of debris that cross our path.  Sometime in a past world I think we put all our best drugs in the plants, as is being done again today with genetic sciences, although our efforts today are strictly infantile compared to what came before.

I believe that all these plants being so beneficial is not an accident, and most good pharmaceuticals are plant derivatives too, if you think about it.  Royalty knows all about this, especially British Royalty, who began financing archaeology around the pyramids very early.

We were really something once, but each time we fall we become a little more devo, a little more retarded in our growth and thinking.   A little more abused.  This is plainly evident.

Many of these substances above are true longevity drugs.  Life spans of 150-200 years are entirely possible, if we can discover and employ all the old drugs that are hidden in the plants, created by us before we became so devo.  Its time for people to get their heads out of their TVs, and get back to Life.


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All prices include shipping to the fifty states.  Any  postage for international orders will be minimal, or actual.

Contact me for payment options, though I am most comfortable with checks and money orders mailed to:

Bill Gallagher
PO Box 125
Hachita NM  88040

Sorry but paypal kicked me off, for no good reason. I guess they do not like my politics.

Chanca piedra, Stonebreaker, phyllanthus niruri

This plant grows as a common weed in many places, especially Florida.  The raw plant can be chewed or brewed as a light tea.  This is a very storng tasting herb if too much is used, but it does not take you long to figure out what tastes good to you.

There is a learned response to this by the body, it learns immediatelyt to recognize the goodness of this, and in a very short time what was once bitter begins to taste good.

The powder I sell is a very pure and strong strain from Thailand.  A very small pinch of powder in a large glass of water, used as a tea, once a week, will ensure you never have kidney stones, and there is evidence it also strips plaque from veins and the teeth, so if you use this always swish a mouthful during the ingestion.  The effects are slow but cumulative and this is an excellent and harmless, nay, extremely beneficial maintenance tea.  It is a bona fide longevity herb.




Here is the wikipedia article on this plant:

Phyllanthus niruri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chanca piedra
Phyllanthus niruri 03520.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Plantae
(unranked):     Angiosperms
(unranked):     Eudicots
(unranked):     Rosids
Order:     Malpighiales
Family:     Phyllanthaceae
Genus:     Phyllanthus
Species:     P. niruri
Binomial name
Phyllanthus niruri
L.
Synonyms[1]

    Diasperus chlorophaeus (Baill.) Kuntze
    Diasperus lathyroides (Kunth) Kuntze
    Diasperus microphyllus (Mart.) Kuntze
    Diasperus niruri (L.) Kuntze
    Diasperus rosellus (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze
    Niruris annua Raf.
    Niruris indica Raf.
    Nymphanthus niruri (L.) Lour.
    Phyllanthus carolinianus Blanco
    Phyllanthus chlorophaeus Baill.
    Phyllanthus ellipticus Buckley nom. illeg.
    Phyllanthus erectus (Medik.) M.R.Almeida
    Phyllanthus filiformis Pav. ex Baill.
    Phyllanthus humilis Salisb.
    Phyllanthus kirganelia Blanco
    Phyllanthus lathyroides Kunth
    Phyllanthus microphyllus Mart. nom. illeg.
    Phyllanthus mimosoides Lodd. nom. illeg.
    Phyllanthus moeroris Oken
    Phyllanthus parvifolius Steud.
    Phyllanthus purpurascens Kunth
    Phyllanthus rosellus (Müll.Arg.) Müll.Arg.
    Phyllanthus williamsii Standl.
    Urinaria erecta Medik.

Phyllanthus niruri is a widespread tropical plant commonly found in coastal areas, known by the common names gale of the wind, stonebreaker or seed-under-leaf. It is a relative of the spurges, belonging to the Phyllanthus genus of Family Phyllanthaceae.

Contents

    1 Description
    2 Traditional medicine
    3 Clinical study
    4 Names
    5 References
    6 External links

Description
Phyllanthus niruri

It grows 50–70 cm (20–28 in) tall and bears ascending herbaceous branches. The bark is smooth and light green. It bears numerous pale green flowers which are often flushed with red. The fruits are tiny, smooth capsules containing seeds.


Traditional medicine

Phyllanthus niruri is an important plant of Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine in which it is used for problems of the stomach, genitourinary system, liver, kidney and spleen.[2][3]
Clinical study

P. niruri has been investigated for its potential medicinal benefits, especially in terms of blocking kidney stone formation[4][5][6][7] and anti-hepatitis B activity.[8] However, there is insufficient scientific evidence of its effectiveness; a Cochrane review concluded there is "no convincing evidence that phyllanthus, compared with placebo, benefits patients with chronic HBV infection."[9]
Names

Common names for Phyllanthus niruri include chanca piedra in Spanish, bhumyamalaki in Ayurveda, sampa-sampalukan in Tagalog, and quebra-pedra in Portuguese. The herb is known as nalla usiri(నేల ఉసీరీ) in Telugu, keezha nelli (கீழாநெல்லி, an abbreviation of கீழ்க்காய்-நெல்லி, meaning 'berry under') in Tamil, nela nelli(ನೆಲ ನೆಲ್ಲಿ, ಕಿರುನೆಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಪ್ಪು) in Kannada,keezhar nelli in Malayalam . It has many other common names in assorted languages, including dukong anak, dukong-dukong anak, amin buah, rami buah, turi hutan, bhuiaonla, and meniran hijau (in Indonesia), Obukoko in Urhobo language, Nli-ndulie in Ukwani language in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.
References

"The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved June 6, 2014.
"Keelanelli". Tamilnadu.com. 21 January 2013.
Patel, Jay Ram; Tripathi, Priyanka; Sharma, Vikas; Chauhan, Nagendra Singh; Dixit, Vinod Kumar (2011). "Phyllanthus amarus: Ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology: A review". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 138 (2): 286–313. PMID 21982793. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.09.040.
Nishiura JL, Campos AH, Boim MA, Heilberg IP, Schor N (October 2004). "Phyllanthus niruri normalizes elevated urinary calcium levels in calcium stone forming (CSF) patients". Urological Research. 32 (5): 362–6. PMID 15221244. doi:10.1007/s00240-004-0432-8.
Micali S, Sighinolfi MC, Celia A, De Stefani S, Grande M, Cicero AF, Bianchi G (September 2006). "Can Phyllanthus niruri affect the efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for renal stones? A randomized, prospective, long-term study.". J Urol. 176 (3): 1020–2. PMID 16890682. doi:10.1016/j.juro.2006.04.010.
Freitas, A. M.; Schor, N; Boim, M. A. (2002). "The effect of Phyllanthus niruri on urinary inhibitors of calcium oxalate crystallization and other factors associated with renal stone formation". BJU international. 89 (9): 829–34. PMID 12010223. doi:10.1046/j.1464-410x.2002.02794.x.
Boim MA, Heilberg IP, Schor N (2010). "Phyllanthus niruri as a promising alternative treatment for nephrolithiasis". International Braz J Urol. 36 (6): 657–64; discussion 664. PMID 21176271. doi:10.1590/S1677-55382010000600002.
Keche, Y; Badar, V; Hardas, M (2010). "Efficacy and safety of livwin (polyherbal formulation) in patients with acute viral hepatitis: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial". International Journal of Ayurveda Research. 1 (4): 216–9. PMC 3059443 Freely accessible. PMID 21455448. doi:10.4103/0974-7788.76784.

    Xia, Y; Luo, H; Liu, J. P.; Gluud, C (2011). "Phyllanthus species for chronic hepatitis B virus infection". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4): CD008960. PMID 21491412. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008960.pub2.

External links
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phyllanthus niruri.
    Wikispecies has information related to: Phyllanthus niruri

    Bhuiaonla (Phyllanthus niruri): A Useful Medicinal Weed
    Medicinal Uses
    Tropical Plant Database

Categories:

    PhyllanthusMedicinal plants of AsiaPlants described in 1753

Catnip, Nepeta cataria

Fresh, organically grown in New Mexico.  This is a very beneficial plant, as the article below will show. It is a member of the mint family.and has a distinctive minty taste and smell.  If cats like it, it must be good!

;)

b


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Catnip
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Catnip (disambiguation).
Nepeta cataria
Catnip flowers.jpg
Flowers of the plant
Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Plantae
(unranked):     Angiosperms
(unranked):     Eudicots
(unranked):     Asterids
Order:     Lamiales
Family:     Lamiaceae
Genus:     Nepeta
Species:     N. cataria
Binomial name
Nepeta cataria
L.[1]

Nepeta cataria, commonly known as catnip, catswort, and catmint, is a species of the genus Nepeta in the family Lamiaceae, native to southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia, and parts of China. It is widely naturalized in northern Europe, New Zealand, and North America.[1][2][3][4][5] The common name catmint can also refer to the genus as a whole. The names catnip and catmint are derived from the intense attraction most cats have towards them.

Contents

    1 Description
    2 Taxonomy
    3 Uses
        3.1 Cultivation
        3.2 Biological control
        3.3 As an insect repellent
        3.4 Effect on humans
        3.5 Effect on cats
    4 References
    5 Further reading
    6 External links

Description

Nepeta cataria is a short-lived perennial, herbaceous plant that grows to be 50–100 cm (20–39 in) tall and wide, which blooms from late-spring to the autumn. In appearance, N. cataria resembles a typical member of the mint family of plants, featuring brown-green foliage with the characteristic square stem of the Lamiaceae family of plants.[6] The coarse-toothed leaves are triangular to elliptical in shape.[7] The small, bilabiate flowers of N. cataria are showy and fragrant, and are either pink in colour or white with fine spots of pale purple.[7]
Taxonomy

Nepeta cataria was one of the many species described by Linnaeus in 1753 in his landmark work Species Plantarum.[8] He had previously described it in 1738 as Nepeta floribus interrupte spicatis pedunculatis (meaning "Nepeta with flowers in a stalked, interrupted spike"), before the commencement of Linnaean taxonomy.[9]
Uses

The plant terpenoid nepetalactone is the main chemical constituent of the essential oil of Nepeta cataria. Nepetalactone can be extracted from catnip by steam distillation.[10]
Cultivation

Nepeta cataria is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. It is also grown for its attractant qualities to house cats and butterflies.[7]

The plant is drought-tolerant and deer-resistant. It can be a repellent for certain insects, including aphids and squash bugs.[7] Catnip is best grown in full sunlight and grows as a loosely branching, low perennial.[11]

Varieties include Nepeta cataria var. citriodora (or N. cataria subsp. citriodora), or "lemon catnip".[citation needed]
Biological control

The compound iridodial, extracted from catnip oil, has been found to attract lacewings which eat aphids and mites.[12]
As an insect repellent

Nepetalactone is a mosquito and fly repellent.[13][14] Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites.[15][16] Research suggests that, while ten times more effective than DEET,[17] it is not as effective as a repellent when used on the skin when compared with DEET or SS220.[18]
Effect on humans

Nepeta cataria can be brewed to produce a herbal tea.[19] It is also used as a culinary herb for many dishes. Catnip can also be ingested through smoking the herb. It has only a negligible effect on relaxation, like other herbal cigarettes.[20][not in citation given]

Catnip has a history of medicinal use for a variety of ailments.[21] The plant has been consumed as a tea, juice, tincture, infusion or poultice, and has also been smoked.[21] However, its medicinal use has fallen out of favor with the development of more commonplace pharmaceutical drugs.[21]
Effect on cats
See also: Cat pheromone § Cat attractants

Catnip contains the feline attractant nepetalactone. Nepeta cataria (and some other species within the genus Nepeta) are known for their behavioral effects on the cat family, not only on domestic cats but also other species of cats.[21] Several tests showed that leopards, cougars, servals, and lynxes often reacted strongly to catnip in a manner similar to domestic cats and while lions and tigers can react strongly as well, they do not react as consistently.[22][23][24][25]

With domestic cats, N. cataria is used as a recreational substance for pet cats' enjoyment, and catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers. Common behaviors cats display when they sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip are rubbing on the plant, rolling on the ground, pawing at it, licking it, and chewing it. Consuming much of the plant is followed by drooling, sleepiness, anxiety, leaping about and purring. Some growl, meow, scratch or bite at the hand holding it.[26][27] The main response period after exposure is generally between five and fifteen minutes, after which olfactory fatigue usually sets in.[28]:p.107

Cats detect nepetalactone through their olfactory epithelium, not through their vomeronasal organ.[29] At the olfactory epithelium, the nepetalactone binds to one or more olfactory receptors.

Not all cats are affected by catnip;[21] roughly 33% are not affected by the plant.[30][31][32] The behavior is hereditary[21]. An early 1962 pedigree analysis of 26 cats in a Siamese breeding colony suggested that the catnip response was caused by a Mendelian dominant gene[33]; however, a 2011 pedigree analysis of 210 cats in 2 breeding colonies (taking into account measurement error by repeated testing) showed no evidence for Mendelian patterns of inheritance, and instead demonstrated heritabilities of h2=0.51–0.89 for catnip response behavior, indicating a polygenic liability threshold model.[34]

Other plants that also have this effect on cats include valerian (Valeriana officinalis) root, silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) wood. It has been shown that many cats who do not respond to catnip do respond to one or more of these three alternatives.[30]
References

"Nepeta cataria information from NPGS/GRIN". ARS-GRIN.gov. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 107 荆芥属 jing jie shu Nepeta Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 570. 1753.
Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Nepeta includes photos plus range maps for Europe and North America
Wilson, Julia. "Catnip (Nepeta cataria) - Everything You Need to Know About Catnip! | General Cat Articles". www.cat-world.com.au. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/familygenera.asp?Family=Lamiaceaestem
Missouri Botanical Garden: Nepeta cataria (Catmint) . Retrieved 1 October 2013
Linnaeus C (1753). "Tomus II". Species Plantarum (in Latin). Stockholm: Laurentii Salvii. p. 570.
Roger Spencer, Rob Cross & Peter Lumley (2007). "Latin names, the binomial system and plant classification". Plant Names: a Guide to Botanical Nomenclature (3rd ed.). CSIRO Publishing. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9780643099456.
"DIY Kitty Crack: ultra-potent catnip extract". Instructables. 3 June 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
"Growing Catnip - Bonnie Plants". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
Agricultural Research. May/Jun2007, vol.55 Issue 5, p7-7. 1p.
Kingsley, Danny (3 September 2001). "Catnip sends mozzies flying". ABC Science Online. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
Junwei J. Zhu, Christopher A. Dunlap, Robert W. Behle, Dennis R. Berkebile, Brian Wienhold. (2010). Repellency of a wax-based catnip-oil formulation against stable flies. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58 (23): 12320–12326 (8 Nov 2010, doi:10.1021/jf102811k).
Schultz, Gretchen; Peterson, Chris; Coats, Joel (25 May 2006). "Natural Insect Repellents: Activity against Mosquitoes and Cockroaches" (PDF). In Rimando, Agnes M.; Duke, Stephen O. Natural Products for Pest Management. ACS Symposium Series. American Chemical Society.
"Termites Repelled by Catnip Oil". Southern Research Station, United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service. 26 March 2003.
"Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than DEET". www.sciencedaily.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
Chauhan, K.R.; Klun, Jerome A.; Debboun, Mustapha; Kramer, Matthew (2005). "Feeding Deterrent Effects of Catnip Oil Components Compared with Two Synthetic Amides Against Aedes aegypti". Journal of Medical Entomology. 42 (4): 643–646. PMID 16119554. doi:10.1603/0022-2585(2005)042[0643:FDEOCO]2.0.CO;2.
"Catnip tea". Supplement SOS. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
"How Does Catnip Affect Humans?". RealClearScience.
Grognet J (June 1990). "Catnip: Its uses and effects, past and present". The Canadian Veterinary Journal. 31 (6): 455–456. PMC 1480656 Freely accessible. PMID 17423611.
Reader's Digest: Does Catnip "Work" On Big Cats Like Lions And Tigers? Accessed 22 May 2015
Chris Poole (2 Aug 2010). Q: Do Tigers Like Catnip?. Big Cat Rescue. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
Chris Poole (19 Mar 2013). Q: Do Tigers Like Catnip? Part 2. Big Cat Rescue. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Durand, Marcella (4 March 2003). "Heavenly Catnip". CatsPlay.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
Becker, Marty; Spadafori, Gina (2006). Why Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet?: 101 of the Most Perplexing Questions Answered About Feline Unfathomables, Medical Mysteries and Befuddling Behaviors. Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications, Incorporated. ISBN 0757305733.
Spadafori, Gina (2006). "Here, Boy!". Universal Press Syndicate. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
Arden Moore (20 July 2007). The Cat Behavior Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask. Storey. ISBN 978-1-60342-179-9. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
Hart, Benjamin L.; Leedy, Mitzi G. (July 1985). "Analysis of the catnip reaction: mediation by olfactory system, not vomeronasal organ". Behavioral and Neural Biology. 44 (1): 38–46. PMID 3834921. doi:10.1016/S0163-1047(85)91151-3.
Bol, Sebastiaan (16 March 2017). "Responsiveness of cats (Felidae) to silver vine (Actinidia polygama), Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica), valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and catnip (Nepeta cataria)". BMC Veterinary Research. PMID 28302120. doi:10.1186/s12917-017-0987-6.
"Catnip (Nepeta cataria) – Everything You Need to Know About Catnip!". Cat-World.com.au. Cat World. 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
Turner, Ramona (29 May 2007). "How does catnip work its magic on cats?". Scientific American. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
Todd 1962, "Inheritance of the catnip response in domestic cats"

    Villani 2011, "Heritability and Characteristics of Catnip Response in Two Domestic Cat Populations"

Further reading

    Khan, M.A.; Cameron, M.M.; Loza-Reyes, E. (May 2012). "Interference in foraging behaviour of European and American house dust mites Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae (Acari: Pyroglyphidae) by catmint, Nepeta cataria (Lamiaceae)". Experimental and Applied Acarology. 57 (1): 65–74. doi:10.1007/s10493-012-9532-2. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

External links
    Wikispecies has information related to: Catnip
    Look up catnip in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

    Media related to Nepeta cataria at Wikimedia Commons
    USDA Plant Profile: Nepeta cataria (catmint)





Chaparral, Larrea tridentata

     The creosote or greasewood plant has been used for millenia as a medicine by many native peoples.  I have used it myself but mostly as an occasional supplement.  I don't like the warnings about kidney and liver damage in the wiki article below, though I know of many people who use or used this regularly for a variety of ailments.  I offer this plant material here because it is easily accessible to me, and I can provide it to users cheaply.  These are washed and dried leaves to be used in making teas.  It is strong tasting, and weaker is better than stronger in my opinion.  I have come to actuallyt enjoy a very weak tea made from this plant, and I think that means my body likes it, but I use this very sparingly, once or twice a year.  I have heard it is very effective as an ingredient in certain poultice, though I have real experience in that.

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Larrea tridentata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Larrea tridentata
Scientific classification e
Kingdom:     Plantae
Clade:     Angiosperms
Clade:     Eudicots
Clade:     Rosids
Order:     Zygophyllales
Family:     Zygophyllaceae
Genus:     Larrea
Species:     L. tridentata
Binomial name
Larrea tridentata
(DC.) Coville[1]

Larrea tridentata is known as creosote bush and greasewood[2] as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb,[3] and as gobernadora in Mexico, Spanish for "governess", due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In Sonora, it is more commonly called hediondilla. [4]

It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific name tridentata refers to its three-toothed leaves.

Contents

    1 Distribution
    2 Description
    3 Oldest plants
        3.1 King Clone
    4 Habitat
    5 Desert adaptation
    6 Uses
        6.1 Native American medicinals
        6.2 Herbal supplements and toxicity
    7 See also
    8 References
    9 External links

Distribution

Larrea tridentata is a prominent species in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America, and its range includes those and other regions in portions of southeastern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States, and northern Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. The species grows as far east as Zapata County, Texas, along the Rio Grande southeast of Laredo near the 99th meridian west.[5]
Description
Larrea tridentata in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Larrea tridentata is an evergreen shrub growing to 1 to 3 m (3.3 to 9.8 ft) tall, rarely 4 m (13 ft). The stems of the plant bear resinous, dark green leaves with two opposite lanceolate leaflets joined at the base, with a deciduous awn between them, each leaflet 7 to 18 mm (0.28 to 0.71 in) long and 4 to 8.5 mm (0.16 to 0.33 in) broad. The flowers are up to 25 mm (0.98 in) in diameter, with five yellow petals. Galls may form by the activity of the creosote gall midge. The whole plant exhibits a characteristic odor of creosote, from which the common name derives.[6] In the regions where it grows, its smell is often associated with the "smell of rain".[citation needed]
Oldest plants
King Clone, the 11,700-year-old creosote bush ring in the Mojave Desert

As the creosote bush grows older, its oldest branches eventually die and its crown splits into separate crowns. This normally happens when the plant is 30 to 90 years old. Eventually, the old crown dies and the new one becomes a clonal colony from the previous plant, composed of many separate stem crowns all from the same seed.[7]
King Clone
Main article: King Clone

The "King Clone" creosote ring is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. It has been alive an estimated 11,700 years, in the central Mojave Desert near present-day Lucerne Valley, California. This single clonal colony plant of L. tridentata reaches up to 67 ft (20 m) in diameter, with an average diameter of 45 ft (14 m).[8][9][10]

King Clone was identified and its age estimated by Frank Vasek, a professor at the University of California, Riverside. Measurements of the plant, as well as radiocarbon dating of wood fragments, were used to determine the plant's mean annual growth rate outward from the center of the ring. By measuring the diameter of the ring, its total age could be estimated.[10][11] It is within the Creosote Rings Preserve of the Lucerne Valley and Johnson Valley.[10]
Large creosote bush, Death Valley
Habitat
See also: Creosote bush scrub

Creosote bush is most common on the well-drained soils of alluvial fans and flats. In parts of its range, it may cover large areas in practically pure stands, though it usually occurs in association with Ambrosia dumosa (burro bush or bur-sage).[12] Chemicals found in creosote bush roots have been shown to inhibit the growth of burro bush roots,[13] but as of 2013, much of their relationship remains unexplained.

Creosote bush stands tend to display an evenly spaced distribution of plants.[14] Originally,[citation needed] it was assumed that the plant produced a water-soluble inhibitor that prevented the growth of other bushes near mature, healthy bushes. Now, however, it has been shown[citation needed] that the root systems of mature creosote plants are simply so efficient at absorbing water that fallen seeds nearby cannot accumulate enough water to germinate, effectively creating dead zones around every plant.[citation needed]
Desert adaptation
A young L. tridentata plant

Owing to the harshness of the germination environment above mature root systems, young creosote bushes are much more susceptible to drought stress than established plants. Germination is actually quite active during wet periods, but most of the young plants die very quickly unless water conditions are optimal. Ground heat compounds the young plants' susceptibility to water stress, and ground temperatures can reach upwards of 70°C (160°F). To become established, the young plant apparently must experience a pattern of three to five years of abnormally cool and moist weather during and after germination. From this, it can be inferred that all the plants inside a stand are of equal age.

Mature plants, however, can tolerate extreme drought stress. In terms of negative water potential, creosote bushes can operate fully at -50 bars of water potential and have been found living down to -120 bars, although the practical average floor is around -70 bars, where the plant's need for cellular respiration generally exceeds the level that the water-requiring process of photosynthesis can provide. Cell division can occur during these times of water stress, and new cells commonly quickly absorb water after rainfall. This rapid uptake causes branches to grow several centimeters at the end of a wet season.

Water loss is reduced by the resinous, waxy coating of the leaves, and by their small size, which prevents them from heating up above air temperature (which would increase the vapor pressure deficit between the leaf and the air, thus increasing water loss). Plants do drop some leaves heading into summer, but if all leaves are lost, the plant will not recover. Accumulation of fallen leaves, as well as other detritus caught from the passing wind, creates an ecological community specific to the creosote bush canopy, including beetles, millipedes, pocket mice, and kangaroo rats.
Uses
An L. tridentata flower
Native American medicinals

Native Americans in the Southwest held beliefs that it treated many maladies, including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, dysmenorrhea, and snakebite.[15] The shrub is still widely used as a medicine in Mexico. It contains nordihydroguaiaretic acid.[16]
Herbal supplements and toxicity

Larrea tridentata is often referred to as chaparral when used as a herbal remedy and supplement; however, it does not grow in the synonymous plant community chaparral.[17] The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about the health hazards of ingesting chaparral or using it as an internal medicine, and discourages its use.[18] In 2005, Health Canada issued a warning to consumers to avoid using the leaves of Larrea species because of the risk of damage to the liver and kidneys.[19]

The Coahuilla Indians used the plant for intestinal complaints and tuberculosis. The Pima drank a decoction of the leaves as an emetic, and applied the boiled leaves as poultices to wounds or sores.[20] Papago Indians prepared it medicinally for stiff limbs, snake bites, and menstrual cramps.[21] Guaiacum, after which the guaiacol in creosote was named, was used by native Caribbean islanders to treat tropical diseases and later for syphilis.[22][23]

Cancer Research UK states: "We don’t recommend that you take chaparral to treat or prevent any type of cancer."[24]
See also

    Jurupa Oak
    List of longest-living organisms

References

"Taxon: Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville". Taxonomy for Plants. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN).
Peter Bigfoot (2011). "Chaparral". Peter Bigfoot's Useful Wild Western Plants. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
Moore, M. (1989). Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press. pp. 27–32. ISBN 978-0-8901-3181-7.
Felger, R. S.; Moser, M. B. (1985). People of the Desert and Sea - Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1267-6.
"Brush". The Vegetation Types of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Service.
"Larrea tridentata". The Jepson Manual. Berkeley, CA: University of California. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
"Creosote Bush". US National Park Service. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
Vasek, F. C. (February 1980). "Creosote Bush: Long-Lived Clones in the Mojave Desert". American Journal of Botany. 67 (2): 246–255. JSTOR 2442649. doi:10.2307/2442649.
Weiser, M. "The oldest living thing is a quiet survivor". High Country News.
Rodrigue, F. "Creosote Rings Preserve - Larrea tridentata - Creosote bush". Lucerne Valley Community Website. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
Schoenherr, A. A. (1995). A Natural History of California. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-520-06922-0.
Marshall, K. Anna (1995). "Larrea tridentata". Fire Effects Information System. U. S. Forest Service.
Mahall, Bruce E.; Callaway, Ragan M. (February 1991). "Root communication among desert shrubs". PNAS. 88 (3): 874–876. PMC 50916 Freely accessible. PMID 11607151. doi:10.1073/pnas.88.3.874.
Phillips, Donald L.; MacMahon, James A. (March 1981). "Competition and spacing patterns in desert shrubs". Journal of Ecology. 69 (1): 97–115. doi:10.2307/2259818.
"Larrea tridentata (Sesse' and Moc. ex DC.) Coville - Creosote Bush" (PDF). US Forest Service.
Arteaga, S.; Andrade-Cetto, A.; Cardenas, R. (2005). "Larrea tridentata (Creosote Bush), an abundant plant of Mexican and US-American deserts and its metabolite nordihydroguaiaretic acid". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 98 (3): 231–239. PMID 15814253. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2005.02.002.
Nabhan, G. P. (1993). Gathering the Desert. University of Arizona Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-8165-1014-6. "...health food stores have been marketing Larrea as a cure-all that they whimsically called "chaparral tea" – the plant never grows above the desert in true chaparral vegetation."
Tilford, G. L. Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing. ISBN 0-87842-359-1.
"Health Canada warns consumers not to take products containing chaparral". Health Canada. 21 December 2005.
United States Herbarium 1890, p. 521
Wignall & Bowers 1993, p. 104
Foster & Johnson 2006, p. 190
Bostock & Alison 1832, p. 553

    "Chaparral". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved August 11, 2013.

External links
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Larrea tridentata.

    "Creosote Bush". US National Park Service.
    "Larrea tridentata". Jepson Flora Project. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
    "Larrea tridentata". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Germplasm Resources Information Network - GRIN.
    "Larrea tridentata". Fire Effect Information System. US Forest Service.
    "King Clone, The World's Oldest Living Thing". Botanical Record-Breakers. Waynesworld.

    photo links

    "Creosote bush in desert landscape". EPA.
    "Larrea tridentata Photos". Suu.edu.
    "Larrea tridentata". CalPhotos. Berkeley, CA: University of California.

Epazote, Dysphania ambrosioides, formerly Chenopodium ambrosioides

     Today epazote is mostly used as an anti-flatulent when cooking beans and other south American dishes.  This use has become quite trendy in fact, invading some of the most famous kitchens of the world.  The truth of the matter is thi though:  for nearly 100 years or longer, the extract from the epazote plant was known as Oil Of Baltimore, and was the most proven/used vermifuge for both man and beast.  Vermifuge means anti-parasitic.  If you consider the latin name -- Dysphania ambrosioides  (formerly Chenopodium ambrosioides)  you can see the second part of it relates very closely to the word ambrosia, literally food of the Gods.  When drunk as a tea or eaten as a powder this plant will eradicate any parasitic infection within the digestive tract of any animal.  It is safe to use with dogs and cats, though the dosage must be very small.  In fact, the dosage should never be large, for anyone or anything, this is an extremely powerful drug.  Veternarians and pharmaceutical companies derive a lot of money from selling substitutes foro this, but in reality the plant is the most natural and safest form to emply as far as a vermifuge goes.

     The one thing that must be considered when using this plant is that it will elevate heart rate, and I know this because I tested it.  It is not alarming in its rise, but some people suffering from heart disease should probably not use this, or use it very sparingly, as a weak preventive tea.


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     Here is the wiki article on the plant:

Dysphania ambrosioides
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Mexican tea" redirects here. For tea drinking in Mexico, see Mexican tea culture.
Epazote
Dysphania ambrosioides NRCS-1.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Plantae
(unranked):     Angiosperms
(unranked):     Eudicots
(unranked):     Core eudicots
Order:     Caryophyllales
Family:     Amaranthaceae
Subfamily:     Chenopodioideae
Tribe:     Dysphanieae
Genus:     Dysphania
Species:     D. ambrosioides
Binomial name
Dysphania ambrosioides
(L.) Mosyakin & Clemants
Synonyms[1]

    Ambrina ambrosioides (L.) Spach
    Ambrina parvula Phil.
    Ambrina spathulata Moq.
    Atriplex ambrosioides (L.) Crantz
    Blitum ambrosioides (L.) Beck
    Botrys ambrosioides (L.) Nieuwl.
    Chenopodium ambrosioidesL.
    Chenopodium integrifolium Vorosch.
    Chenopodium spathulatum Sieber ex Moq.
    Chenopodium suffruticosum subsp. remotum Vorosch.
    Chenopodium suffruticosum Willd.
    Orthosporum ambrosioides (L.) Kostel.
    Orthosporum suffruticosum Kostel.
    Teloxys ambrosioides (L.) W.A. Weber
    Vulvaria ambrosioides (L.) Bubani

Dysphania ambrosioides - MHNT

Dysphania ambrosioides, formerly Chenopodium ambrosioides, known as wormseed, Jesuit's tea, Mexican-tea,[2] payqu (paico), epazote, or herba sancti Mariæ, is an annual or short-lived perennial herb native to Central America, South America, and southern Mexico.

Contents

    1 Growth
    2 Taxonomy
    3 Etymology
    4 Usage
        4.1 Culinary uses
            4.1.1 Toxicity
        4.2 Agricultural use
        4.3 Companion plant
    5 Chemical constituents
    6 References
    7 External links

Growth

D. ambrosioides is an annual or short-lived perennial plant (herb), growing to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) tall, irregularly branched, with oblong-lanceolate leaves up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long. The flowers are small and green, produced in a branched panicle at the apex of the stem.

As well as in its native areas, it is grown in warm temperate to subtropical areas of Europe and the United States (Missouri, New England, Eastern United States),[3] sometimes becoming an invasive weed.
Taxonomy

The generic name Dysphania traditionally was applied in the 1930s to some species endemic to Australia. Placement and rank of this taxon have ranged from a mere section in Chenopodium to the sole genus of a separate family Dysphaniaceae, or a representative of Illicebraceae. The close affinity of Dysphania to "glandular" species of Chenopodium sensu lato is now evident.[4]
Etymology

The common Spanish name, epazote (sometimes spelled and pronounced ipasote or ypasote), is derived from Nahuatl: epazōtl (pronounced [eˈpasoːt͡ɬ]) meaning skunk sweat.
Usage
Culinary uses

D. ambrosioides is used as a leaf vegetable, herb, and herbal tea for its pungent flavor. Raw, it has a resinous, medicinal pungency, similar to oregano, anise, fennel, or even tarragon, but stronger. The fragrance of D. ambrosioides is strong but difficult to describe. A common analogy is to turpentine or creosote. It has also been compared to citrus, savory, and mint.

Although it is traditionally used with black beans for flavor and its supposed carminative properties (less gas), it is also sometimes used to flavor other traditional Mexican dishes as well: it can be used to season quesadillas and sopes (especially those containing huitlacoche), soups, mole de olla, tamales with cheese and chili peppers, chilaquiles, eggs and potatoes and enchiladas. It is often used as an herb in white fried rice and an important ingredient for making the green salsa for chilaquiles.
Toxicity

Overdoses of the essential oil have caused human deaths (attributed to the ascaridole content). The symptoms including severe gastroenteritis with pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.[5]
Agricultural use

The essential oils of D. ambrosioides contain terpene compounds, some of which have natural pesticide capabilities. The compound ascaridole in epazote inhibits the growth of nearby plants, so it would be best to relegate this plant at a distance from other inhabitants of the herb garden.[6] Even though this plant has an established place in recipes and in folklore, it is wise to use only the leaves, and those very sparingly, in cooking.[7]
Companion plant

D. ambrosioides not only contains terpene compounds, but it also delivers partial protection to nearby plants simply by masking their scent to some insects, making it a useful companion plant. Its small flowers may also attract some predatory wasps and flies.
Chemical constituents

Some of its chemical constituents have been shown in the laboratory to affect certain cancer cell lines,[8] and it has also been reported to be highly carcinogenic in rats.[9] A Nigerian group, however, concluded in 2007 that it is neither mutagenic nor cytotoxic.[10]

Oil of chenopodium is derived from this plant. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a colorless or pale yellow toxic essential oil of unpleasant odor and taste, ... formerly used as an anthelmintic".[11]

Epazote essential oil contains ascaridole (up to 70%), limonene, p-cymene, and smaller amounts of numerous other monoterpenes and monoterpene derivatives (α-pinene, myrcene, terpinene, thymol, camphor and trans-isocarveol). Ascaridole (1,4-peroxido-p-menth-2-ene) is rather an uncommon constituent of spices; another plant owing much of its character to this monoterpene peroxide is boldo. Ascaridole is toxic and has a pungent, not very pleasant flavor; in pure form, it is an explosive sensitive to shock. Ascaridole content is lower in epazote from Mexico than in epazote grown in Europe or Asia.[12]
References

"Tropicos - Name - Chenopodium ambrosioides L.". tropicos.org.
"BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
Mrs. M. Grieve. A Modern Herbal. FRHS. p. 854. ISBN 0-486-22798-7.
"Dysphania in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". efloras.org.
Tampion, John (1977). "Chenopodium ambrosioides L.". Dangerous Plants. David and Charles. p. 64. ISBN 0715373757.
J. Jimenez-Osorio, Am. J. Bot. 78:139, 1991
Texas A & M University, Cynthia W. Mueller. "Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides)". Retrieved 2013-02-13.
Nascimento, Flávia R.F.; Cruz, Gustavo V.B.; Pereira, Paulo Vitor S.; MacIel, Márcia C.G.; Silva, Lucilene A.; Azevedo, Ana Paula S.; Barroqueiro, Elizabeth S.B.; Guerra, Rosane N.M. (2006). "Ascitic and solid Ehrlich tumor inhibition by Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Treatment". Life Sciences. 78 (22): 2650–3. PMID 16307762. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2005.10.006.
Kapadia, GJ; Chung, EB; Ghosh, B; Shukla, YN; Basak, SP; Morton, JF; Pradhan, SN (1978). "Carcinogenicity of some folk medicinal herbs in rats". Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 60 (3): 683–6. PMID 625070.
Sowemimo, A.A.; Fakoya, F.A.; Awopetu, I.; Omobuwajo, O.R.; Adesanya, S.A. (2007). "Toxicity and mutagenic activity of some selected Nigerian plants". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 113 (3): 427–32. PMID 17707603. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.06.024.
"chenopodium oil". Mirriam-Webster. Retrieved 2013-02-13.

    . Laferrière, Joseph E. 1990. Nutritional and pharmacological properties of yerbaníz, epazote, and Mountain Pima oregano. Seedhead News 29:9.

External links
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dysphania ambrosioides.

    Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
    Treating Livestock with Medicinal Plants: Beneficial or Toxic? Chenopodium ambrosioides
    Tropical Plant database: Chenopodium ambrosioides
    Flora of North America
    Chenopodium ambrosioides anthelminticum (L.) A. Gray


Tobacco, Natural and Organically grown

I grow this tobacco and supply it dried as leaves, and leaf parts.  This is not for smoking, I grow it as an insecticide, which is one very positive aspect of tobacco. Nicotine as an insecticide kills and deters most insects.  A tablespoon of dried tobacco in a half gallon of water makes a wonderfully effective organic insect spray.  I use tobacco dried in amongst seeds I am storing to keep bugs out.  Anywhere you want to keep bugs out is a good place to sprinkle tobacco.  The powder of tobacco is effective against flea infestation, though a lot of its effectiveness that way is because it clogs the fleas breathing apparatus, versus poisoning them.  It has also been used as poultice in some cases involving infection.


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Tobacco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the plant genus, see Nicotiana. For the American electronic musician, see Tobacco (musician).
Not to be confused with Tabacco or Tabasco.
Tobacco
DunhillLightFlake.jpg
Tobacco flakes, sliced from pressed plugs
Product name     Tobacco
Source plant(s)     Nicotiana
Part(s) of plant     Leaf
Geographic origin     South America
Active ingredients     Nicotine, harmine
Uses     Recreational
Legal status   

    AU: Unscheduled
    CA: Unscheduled
    UK: 18+
    US: 18+ only in most states[1]
    UN: Unscheduled
    EU: Unscheduled
    See tobacco control

A historic kiln in Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia
Basma tobacco leaves drying in the sun at Pomak village in Xanthi, Greece

Tobacco is a product prepared from the leaves of the tobacco plant by curing them. The plant is part of the genus Nicotiana and of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. While more than 70 species of tobacco are known, the chief commercial crop is N. tabacum. The more potent variant N. rustica is also used around the world.

Tobacco contains the alkaloid nicotine, which is a stimulant. Dried tobacco leaves are mainly used for smoking in cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and flavored shisha tobacco. They can also be consumed as snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco and snus.

Tobacco use is a risk factor for many diseases, especially those affecting the heart, liver, and lungs, as well as many cancers. In 2008, the World Health Organization named tobacco as the world's single greatest preventable cause of death.[2]

Contents

    1 Etymology
    2 History
        2.1 Traditional use
        2.2 Popularization
        2.3 Contemporary
    3 Biology
        3.1 Nicotiana
        3.2 Types
    4 Production
        4.1 Cultivation
        4.2 Curing
        4.3 Global production
            4.3.1 Trends
            4.3.2 Major producers
                4.3.2.1 China
                4.3.2.2 India
                4.3.2.3 Brazil
        4.4 Problems in production
            4.4.1 Child labor
            4.4.2 Economy
            4.4.3 Environment
        4.5 Research
        4.6 Genetic modification
            4.6.1 Field trials
            4.6.2 Production
    5 Consumption
    6 Impact
        6.1 Social
        6.2 Demographic
        6.3 Harmful effects of tobacco and smoking
        6.4 Economic
        6.5 Advertising
        6.6 Cinema
    7 References
        7.1 Further reading
    8 External links

Etymology

The English word "tobacco" originates from the Spanish and Portuguese word "tabaco". The precise origin of this word is disputed, but it is generally thought to have derived at least in part, from Taino, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean. In Taino, it was said to mean either a roll of tobacco leaves (according to Bartolomé de las Casas, 1552) or to tabago, a kind of Y-shaped pipe used for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo; with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).[3][4]

However, perhaps coincidentally, similar words in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian were used from 1410 to define medicinal herbs believed to have originated from the Arabic طُبّاق ṭubbāq (also طُباق ṭubāq), a word reportedly dating to the 9th century, as a name for various herbs.[5][6]
History
Main article: History of tobacco
See also: History of commercial tobacco in the United States
William Michael Harnett (American, 1848-1892), Still Life with Three Castles Tobacco, 1880, Brooklyn Museum
Traditional use
The earliest depiction of a European man smoking, from Tabacco by Anthony Chute, 1595
A man smoking Tabacco on Hukka in Darchula Nepal

Tobacco has long been used in the Americas, with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400–1000 BC.[7] Many Native American tribes have traditionally grown and used tobacco. Eastern North American tribes historically carried tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item, as well as smoking it, both socially and ceremonially, such as to seal a peace treaty or trade agreement.[8][9] In some populations, tobacco is seen as a gift from the Creator, with the ceremonial tobacco smoke carrying one's thoughts and prayers to the Creator.[10]
Popularization
An illustration from Frederick William Fairholt's Tobacco, its History and Association, 1859
Tobacco plant and tobacco leaf from the Deli plantations in Sumatra, 1905

Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became increasingly popular as a trade item. Hernández de Boncalo, Spanish chronicler of the Indies, was the first European to bring tobacco seeds to the Old World in 1559 following orders of King Philip II of Spain. These seeds were planted in the outskirts of Toledo, more specifically in an area known as "Los Cigarrales" named after the continuous plagues of cicadas (cigarras in Spanish). Before the development of lighter Virginia and white burley strains of tobacco, the smoke was too harsh to be inhaled. Small quantities were smoked at a time, using a pipe like the midwakh or kiseru or smoking newly invented waterpipes such as the bong or the hookah (see thuốc lào for a modern continuance of this practice).

The alleged benefits of tobacco also account for its considerable success. The astronomer Thomas Harriot, who accompanied Sir Richard Grenville on his 1585 expedition to Roanoke Island, explains that the plant "openeth all the pores and passages of the body" so that the natives’ "bodies are notably preserved in health, and know not many grievous diseases, wherewithall we in England are often times afflicted." [11]

Tobacco smoking, chewing, and snuffing became a major industry in Europe and its colonies by 1700.[12][13]

Tobacco has been a major cash crop in Cuba and in other parts of the Caribbean since the 18th century. Cuban cigars are world-famous.[14]

In the late 19th century, cigarettes became popular. James Bonsack created a machine that automated cigarette production. This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in the tobacco industry until the health revelations of the late-20th century.[15][16]
Contemporary
See also: Tobacco control and Tobacco in the United States

Following the scientific revelations of the mid-20th century, tobacco became condemned as a health hazard, and eventually became encompassed as a cause for cancer, as well as other respiratory and circulatory diseases. In the United States, this led to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which settled the lawsuit in exchange for a combination of yearly payments to the states and voluntary restrictions on advertising and marketing of tobacco products.

In the 1970s, Brown & Williamson cross-bred a strain of tobacco to produce Y1. This strain of tobacco contained an unusually high amount of nicotine, nearly doubling its content from 3.2-3.5% to 6.5%. In the 1990s, this prompted the Food and Drug Administration to use this strain as evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarettes.[citation needed]

In 2003, in response to growth of tobacco use in developing countries, the World Health Organization[17] successfully rallied 168 countries to sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The convention is designed to push for effective legislation and its enforcement in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco. This led to the development of tobacco cessation products.
Biology
    This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Nicotiana
Main article: Nicotiana
See also: List of tobacco diseases
Nicotine is the compound responsible for the addictive nature of tobacco use.
Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) flower, leaves, and buds

Many species of tobacco are in the genus of herbs Nicotiana. It is part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) indigenous to North and South America, Australia, south west Africa, and the South Pacific.

Most nightshades contain varying amounts of nicotine, a powerful neurotoxin to insects. However, tobaccos tend to contain a much higher concentration of nicotine than the others. Unlike many other Solanaceae species, they do not contain tropane alkaloids, which are often poisonous to humans and other animals.

Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivores,[18] a number of such animals have evolved the ability to feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species, and accordingly some tobacco plants (chiefly N. glauca) have become established as invasive weeds in some places.
Types
Main article: Types of tobacco

The types of tobacco include:

    Aromatic fire-cured is cured by smoke from open fires. In the United States, it is grown in northern middle Tennessee, central Kentucky, and Virginia. Fire-cured tobacco grown in Kentucky and Tennessee is used in some chewing tobaccos, moist snuff, some cigarettes, and as a condiment in pipe tobacco blends. Another fire-cured tobacco is Latakia, which is produced from oriental varieties of N. tabacum. The leaves are cured and smoked over smoldering fires of local hardwoods and aromatic shrubs in Cyprus and Syria.
    Brightleaf tobacco is commonly known as "Virginia tobacco", often regardless of the state where it is planted. Prior to the American Civil War, most tobacco grown in the US was fire-cured dark-leaf. Sometime after the War of 1812, demand for a milder, lighter, more aromatic tobacco arose. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland all innovated with milder varieties of the tobacco plant. Farmers discovered that Bright leaf tobacco needs thin, starved soil, and those who could not grow other crops found that they could grow tobacco. Confederate soldiers traded it with each other and Union soldiers, and developed quite a taste for it. At the end of the war, the soldiers went home and a national market had developed for the local crop.
    Burley tobacco is an air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. In the U.S., burley tobacco plants are started from pelletized seeds placed in polystyrene trays floated on a bed of fertilized water in March or April.
    Cavendish is more a process of curing and a method of cutting tobacco than a type. The processing and the cut are used to bring out the natural sweet taste in the tobacco. Cavendish can be produced from any tobacco type, but is usually one of, or a blend of Kentucky, Virginia, and burley, and is most commonly used for pipe tobacco and cigars.
    Criollo tobacco is primarily used in the making of cigars. It was, by most accounts, one of the original Cuban tobaccos that emerged around the time of Columbus.
    Dokha is a tobacco originally grown in Iran, mixed with leaves, bark, and herbs for smoking in a midwakh.
    Turkish tobacco is a sun-cured, highly aromatic, small-leafed variety (Nicotiana tabacum) grown in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Originally grown in regions historically part of the Ottoman Empire, it is also known as "oriental". Many of the early brands of cigarettes were made mostly or entirely of Turkish tobacco; today, its main use is in blends of pipe and especially cigarette tobacco (a typical American cigarette is a blend of bright Virginia, burley, and Turkish).
    Perique was developed in 1824 through the technique of pressure-fermentation of local tobacco by a farmer, Pierre Chenet. Considered the truffle of pipe tobaccos, it is used as a component in many blended pipe tobaccos, but is too strong to be smoked pure. At one time, the freshly moist Perique was also chewed, but none is now sold for this purpose. It is typically blended with pure Virginia to lend spice, strength, and coolness to the blend.
    Shade tobacco is cultivated in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Early Connecticut colonists acquired from the Native Americans the habit of smoking tobacco in pipes, and began cultivating the plant commercially, though the Puritans referred to it as the "evil weed". The Connecticut shade industry has weathered some major catastrophes, including a devastating hailstorm in 1929, and an epidemic of brown spot fungus in 2000, but is now in danger of disappearing altogether, given the increase in the value of land.
    White burley air-cured leaf was found to be more mild than other types of tobacco. In 1865, George Webb of Brown County, Ohio planted red burley seeds he had purchased, and found a few of the seedlings had a whitish, sickly look, which became white burley.
    Wild tobacco is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, and parts of South America. Its botanical name is Nicotiana rustica.
    Y1 is a strain of tobacco cross-bred by Brown & Williamson in the 1970s to obtain an unusually high nicotine content. In the 1990s, the United States Food and Drug Administration used it as evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarettes.[19]

Production
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Cultivation
Main article: Cultivation of tobacco
Tobacco plants growing in a field in Intercourse, Pennsylvania.

Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seeds were at first quickly scattered onto the soil. However, young plants came under increasing attack from flea beetles (Epitrix cucumeris or E. pubescens), which caused destruction of half the tobacco crops in United States in 1876. By 1890, successful experiments were conducted that placed the plant in a frame covered by thin cotton fabric. Today, tobacco is sown in cold frames or hotbeds, as their germination is activated by light.[citation needed]

In the United States, tobacco is often fertilized with the mineral apatite, which partially starves the plant of nitrogen, to produce a more desired flavor.

After the plants are about 8 inches (20 cm) tall, they are transplanted into the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant. A hole is created in the tilled earth with a tobacco peg, either a curved wooden tool or deer antler. After making two holes to the right and left, the planter would move forward two feet, select plants from his/her bag, and repeat. Various mechanical tobacco planters like Bemis, New Idea Setter, and New Holland Transplanter were invented in the late 19th and 20th centuries to automate the process: making the hole, watering it, guiding the plant in — all in one motion.[citation needed]

Tobacco is cultivated annually, and can be harvested in several ways. In the oldest method still used today, the entire plant is harvested at once by cutting off the stalk at the ground with a tobacco knife. It is then speared onto sticks, four to six plants a stick and hung in a curing barn. In the 19th century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened. The leaves ripen from the ground upwards, so a field of tobacco harvested in this manner involves the serial harvest of a number of "primings", beginning with the volado leaves near the ground, working to the seco leaves in the middle of the plant, and finishing with the potent ligero leaves at the top. Before this, the crop must be topped when the pink flowers develop. Topping always refers to the removal of the tobacco flower before the leaves are systematically removed, and eventually, entirely harvested. As the industrial revolution took hold, harvesting wagons used to transport leaves were equipped with man-powered stringers, an apparatus that used twine to attach leaves to a pole. In modern times, large fields are harvested mechanically, although topping the flower and in some cases the plucking of immature leaves is still done by hand. Most tobacco in the U.S. is grown in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia.[20]
Curing
Main article: Curing of tobacco
Tobacco barn in Simsbury, Connecticut used for air curing of shade tobacco
Sun-cured tobacco, Bastam, Iran

Curing and subsequent aging allow for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids in tobacco leaf. This produces certain compounds in the tobacco leaves, and gives a sweet hay, tea, rose oil, or fruity aromatic flavor that contributes to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Starch is converted to sugar, which glycates protein, and is oxidized into advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), a caramelization process that also adds flavor. Inhalation of these AGEs in tobacco smoke contributes to atherosclerosis and cancer.[21] Levels of AGEs are dependent on the curing method used.

Tobacco can be cured through several methods, including:

    Air-cured tobacco is hung in well-ventilated barns and allowed to dry over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is low in sugar, which gives the tobacco smoke a light, mild flavor, and high in nicotine. Cigar and burley tobaccos are 'dark' air-cured.[22]
    Fire-cured tobacco is hung in large barns where fires of hardwoods are kept on continuous or intermittent low smoulder, and takes between three days and ten weeks, depending on the process and the tobacco. Fire curing produces a tobacco low in sugar and high in nicotine. Pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff are fire-cured.
    Flue-cured tobacco was originally strung onto tobacco sticks, which were hung from tier-poles in curing barns (Aus: kilns, also traditionally called 'oasts'). These barns have flues run from externally fed fire boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing. The process generally takes about a week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has medium to high levels of nicotine. Most cigarettes incorporate flue-cured tobacco, which produces a milder, more inhalable smoke.
    Sun-cured tobacco dries uncovered in the sun. This method is used in Turkey, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco. Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.

Some tobaccos go through a second stage of curing, known as fermenting or sweating.[23] Cavendish undergoes fermentation pressed in a casing solution containing sugar and/or flavoring.[24]
Global production
Trends
Tobacco production in Portuguese Timor in the 1930s

Production of tobacco leaf increased by 40% between 1971, when 4.2 million tons of leaf were produced, and 1997, when 5.9 million tons of leaf were produced.[25] According to the Food and Agriculture organization of the UN, tobacco leaf production was expected to hit 7.1 million tons by 2010. This number is a bit lower than the record-high production of 1992, when 7.5 million tons of leaf were produced.[26] The production growth was almost entirely due to increased productivity by developing nations, where production increased by 128%.[27] During that same time, production in developed countries actually decreased.[26] China's increase in tobacco production was the single biggest factor in the increase in world production. China's share of the world market increased from 17% in 1971 to 47% in 1997.[25] This growth can be partially explained by the existence of a high import tariff on foreign tobacco entering China. While this tariff has been reduced from 64% in 1999 to 10% in 2004,[28] it still has led to local, Chinese cigarettes being preferred over foreign cigarettes because of their lower cost.
Major producers
Top tobacco producers, 2014[29]
Country     Production (tonnes)     Note
 China     2,995,400   
 Brazil     862,396   
 India     720,725   
 United States     397,535   
 Indonesia     196,300   
 Pakistan     129,878   
 Malawi     126,348   
 Argentina     119,434   
 Zambia     112,049   
 Mozambique     97,075   
 World     5,755,140     A
No note = official figure, F = FAO Estimate, A = Aggregate (may include official, semiofficial or estimates).

Every year, about 6.7 million tons of tobacco are produced throughout the world. The top producers of tobacco are China (39.6%), India (8.3%), Brazil (7.0%) and the United States (4.6%).[30]
China

Around the peak of global tobacco production, 20 million rural Chinese households were producing tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land.[31] While it is the major crop for millions of Chinese farmers, growing tobacco is not as profitable as cotton or sugarcane, because the Chinese government sets the market price. While this price is guaranteed, it is lower than the natural market price, because of the lack of market risk. To further control tobacco in their borders, China founded a State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) in 1982. The STMA controls tobacco production, marketing, imports, and exports, and contributes 12% to the nation's national income.[32] As noted above, despite the income generated for the state by profits from state-owned tobacco companies and the taxes paid by companies and retailers, China's government has acted to reduce tobacco use.[33]
India

India's Tobacco Board is headquartered in Guntur in the state of Andhra Pradesh.[34] India has 96,865 registered tobacco farmers[35] and many more who are not registered. In 2010, 3,120 tobacco product manufacturing facilities were operating in all of India.[36] Around 0.25% of India's cultivated land is used for tobacco production.[37]

Since 1947, the Indian government has supported growth in the tobacco industry. India has seven tobacco research centers, located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Mysore, West Bengal, and Rajamundry.[35] Rajahmundry houses the core research institute.
Brazil

In Brazil, around 135,000 family farmers cite tobacco production as their main economic activity.[31] Tobacco has never exceeded 0.7% of the country's total cultivated area.[38] In the southern regions of Brazil, Virginia, and Amarelinho, flue-cured tobacco, as well as burley and Galpão Comum air-cured tobacco, are produced. These types of tobacco are used for cigarettes. In the northeast, darker, air- and sun-cured tobacco is grown. These types of tobacco are used for cigars, twists, and dark cigarettes.[38] Brazil's government has made attempts to reduce the production of tobacco, but has not had a successful systematic antitobacco farming initiative. Brazil's government, however, provides small loans for family farms, including those that grow tobacco, through the Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar.[39]
Tobacco plantation, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Problems in production
Child labor

The International Labour Office reported that the most child-laborers work in agriculture, which is one of the most hazardous types of work.[40][not in citation given (See discussion.)] The tobacco industry houses some of these working children. Use of children is widespread on farms in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.[41] While some of these children work with their families on small, family-owned farms, others work on large plantations. In late 2009, reports were released by the London-based human-rights group Plan International, claiming that child labor was common on Malawi (producer of 1.8% of the world's tobacco[25]) tobacco farms. The organization interviewed 44 teens, who worked full-time on farms during the 2007-8 growing season. The child-laborers complained of low pay and long hours, as well as physical and sexual abuse by their supervisors.[42] They also reported suffering from Green tobacco sickness, a form of nicotine poisoning. When wet leaves are handled, nicotine from the leaves gets absorbed in the skin and causes nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Children were exposed to 50-cigarettes-worth of nicotine through direct contact with tobacco leaves. This level of nicotine in children can permanently alter brain structure and function.[40][not in citation given (See discussion.)]
Economy
Tobacco harvesting, Viñales Valley, Cuba

Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production. Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco each own or lease tobacco-manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries.[43] This encouragement, along with government subsidies, has led to a glut in the tobacco market. This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small-scale tobacco farmers. According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000, the inflation-adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37%.[44] Tobacco is the most widely smuggled legal product.[45]
Environment

Tobacco production requires the use of large amounts of pesticides. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field.[46] Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce larger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain.[47] Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk, as well as harm his or her nervous and immune systems.[48]

Tobacco crops extract nutrients (such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium) from soil, decreasing its fertility.[49]

Furthermore, the wood used to cure tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process.[49] Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging, and rolling cigarettes.[46]

In 2017 WHO released a study on the environmental effects of tobacco.[50]
Research

Several tobacco plants have been used as model organisms in genetics. Tobacco BY-2 cells, derived from N. tabacum cultivar 'Bright Yellow-2', are among the most important research tools in plant cytology.[51] Tobacco has played a pioneering role in callus culture research and the elucidation of the mechanism by which kinetin works, laying the groundwork for modern agricultural biotechnology. The first genetically modified plant was produced in 1982, using Agrobacterium tumefaciens to create an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant.[52] This research laid the groundwork for all genetically modified crops.[53]
Genetic modification

Because of its importance as a research tool, transgenic tobacco was the first GM crop to be tested in field trials, in the United States and France in 1986; China became the first country in the world to approve commercial planting of a GM crop in 1993, which was tobacco.[54]
Field trials

Many varieties of transgenic tobacco have been intensively tested in field trials. Agronomic traits such as resistance to pathogens (viruses, particularly to the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV); fungi; bacteria and nematodes); weed management via herbicide tolerance; resistance against insect pests; resistance to drought and cold; and production of useful products such as pharmaceuticals; and use of GM plants for bioremediation, have all been tested in over 400 field trials using tobacco.[55]
Production

Currently, only the US is producing GM tobacco.[54][55] The Chinese virus-resistant tobacco was withdrawn from the market in China in 1997.[56]:3 In the US, cigarettes made with GM tobacco with reduced nicotine content are available under the market name Quest.[55]
Consumption
Further information: Tobacco products

Tobacco is consumed in many forms and through a number of different methods. Some examples are:

    Beedi are thin, often flavoured cigarettes from India made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu leaf, and secured with coloured thread at one end.
    Chewing tobacco is the oldest way of consuming tobacco leaves. It is consumed orally, in two forms: through sweetened strands, or in a shredded form. When consuming the long, sweetened strands, the tobacco is lightly chewed and compacted into a ball. When consuming the shredded tobacco, small amounts are placed at the bottom lip, between the gum and the teeth, where it is gently compacted, thus it can often be called dipping tobacco. Both methods stimulate the salivary glands, which led to the development of the spittoon.
    Cigars are tightly rolled bundles of dried and fermented tobacco, which are ignited so their smoke may be drawn into the smokers' mouths.
    Cigarettes are a product consumed through inhalation of smoke and manufactured from cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, often combined with other additives, then rolled into a paper cylinder.
    Creamy snuffs are tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India, and is known by the brand names Ipco (made by Asha Industries), Denobac, Tona, and Ganesh. It is locally known as mishri in some parts of Maharashtra.
    Dipping tobaccos are a form of smokeless tobacco. Dip is occasionally referred to as "chew", and because of this, it is commonly confused with chewing tobacco, which encompasses a wider range of products. A small clump of dip is 'pinched' out of the tin and placed between the lower or upper lip and gums. Some brands, as with snus, are portioned in small, porous pouches for less mess.
    Gutka is a preparation of crushed betel nut, tobacco, and sweet or savory flavorings. It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries. A mild stimulant, it is sold across India in small, individual-sized packets.
    Heat-not-burn tobacco products heat rather than burn tobacco to generate an aerosol that contains nicotine.
    Hookah is a single- or multistemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for smoking. Hookahs were first used in India and Persia;[57] the hookah has gained immense popularity, especially in the Middle East. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits or moassel, a mixture of tobacco, flavouring, and honey or glycerin.
    Kreteks are cigarettes made with a complex blend of tobacco, cloves, and a flavoring "sauce". It was first introduced in the 1880s in Kudus, Java, to deliver the medicinal eugenol of cloves to the lungs.
    Roll-your-own, often called 'rollies' or 'roll-ups', are relatively popular in some European countries. These are prepared from loose tobacco, cigarette papers, and filters all bought separately. They are usually cheaper to make.
    A tobacco pipe typically consists of a small chamber (the bowl) for the combustion of the tobacco to be smoked and a thin stem (shank) that ends in a mouthpiece (the bit). Shredded pieces of tobacco are placed into the chamber and ignited.
    Snuff is a ground smokeless tobacco product, inhaled or "snuffed" through the nose. If referring specifically to the orally consumed moist snuff, see dipping tobacco.
    Snus is a steam-pasteurized moist powdered tobacco product that is not fermented, and induces minimal salivation. It is consumed by placing it (loose or in little pouches) against the upper gums for an extended period of time. It is somewhat similar to dipping tobacco but does not require spitting and is significantly lower in TSNAs.
    Tobacco edibles, often in the form of an infusion or a spice, have gained popularity in recent years.
    Topical tobacco paste is sometimes used as a treatment for wasp, hornet, fire ant, scorpion, and bee stings.[58] An amount equivalent to the contents of a cigarette is mashed in a cup with about a half a teaspoon of water to make a paste that is then applied to the affected area.
    Tobacco water is a traditional organic insecticide used in domestic gardening. Tobacco dust can be used similarly. It is produced by boiling strong tobacco in water, or by steeping the tobacco in water for a longer period. When cooled, the mixture can be applied as a spray, or 'painted' on to the leaves of garden plants, where it kills insects. Tobacco is, however, banned from use as pesticide in certified organic production by the USDA's National Organic Program.[59]

Impact
Social

Smoking in public was, for a long time, reserved for men, and when done by women was sometimes associated with promiscuity; in Japan, during the Edo period, prostitutes and their clients often approached one another under the guise of offering a smoke. The same was true in 19th-century Europe.[60]

Following the American Civil War, the use of tobacco, primarily in cigars, became associated with masculinity and power. Today, tobacco use is often stigmatized; this has spawned quitting associations and antismoking campaigns.[61][62] Bhutan is the only country in the world where tobacco sales are illegal.[63]
Demographic
Main article: Prevalence of tobacco consumption

Research on tobacco use is limited mainly to smoking, which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption. An estimated 1.1 billion people, and up to one-third of the adult population, use tobacco in some form.[64] Smoking is more prevalent among men[65] (however, the gender gap declines with age),[66][67] the poor, and in transitional or developing countries[68]

Rates of smoking continue to rise in developing countries, but have leveled off or declined in developed countries.[69] Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by half from 1965 to 2006, falling from 42% to 20.8% in adults.[70] In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.[71]
Harmful effects of tobacco and smoking
Main article: Health effects of tobacco
See also: List of additives in cigarettes

Tobacco smoking poses a risk to health due to the inhalation of poisonous chemicals in tobacco smoke such as Carbon Monoxide, Cyanide, and Carcinogens which have been proven to cause heart and lung diseases and Cancer. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally.[72] The WHO estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004[73] and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.[74] Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."[75]

The harms caused by inhalation of poisonous chemicals such as Carbon Monoxide in tobacco smoke include diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema), and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancers). Cancer is caused by inhaling carcinogenic substances present in tobacco smoke.

Inhaling secondhand tobacco smoke can cause lung cancer in nonsmoking adults. In the United States, about 3,000 adults die each year due to lung cancer from secondhand smoke exposure. Heart disease caused by secondhand smoke kills around 46,000 nonsmokers every year.[76]

The addictive alkaloid nicotine is a stimulant, and popularly known as the most characteristic constituent of tobacco. Nicotine is known to produce conditioned place preference, a sign of enforcement value.[77] Nicotine scores almost as highly as opioids on drug effect questionnaire liking scales, which are a rough indicator of addictive potential.[78] Users may develop tolerance and dependence.[79][80] Thousands of different substances in cigarette smoke, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as benzopyrene), formaldehyde, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, and phenols contribute to the harmful effects of smoking.[81] Tobacco's overall harm to user and self score as determined by a multi-criteria decision analysis was determined at 3 percent below cocaine, and 13 percent above amphetamines, ranking 6th most harmful of the 20 drugs assessed.[82]

Polonium 210 is a natural contaminant of tobacco, providing additional evidence for the link between smoking and bronchial cancer.[83] It is also extremely toxic, with one microgram being enough to kill the average adult (250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide by weight).[84]

Thinkers such as Noam Chomsky often describe tobacco as the second most lethal substance consumed by humans, the most lethal being sugar. This is primarily due to their long term impact on general health, the abundance in which they are consumed, and their legality which facilitates and promotes consumption.[85]
Economic
[icon]     This section needs expansion with: discussion of the impact on the poor, taxation, and so forth. You can help by adding to it. (January 2009)

"Much of the disease burden and premature mortality attributable to tobacco use disproportionately affect the poor", and of the 1.22 billion smokers, 1 billion of them live in developing or transitional economies.[68]

Smoking of tobacco is practised worldwide by over one thousand million people. However, while smoking prevalence has declined in many developed countries, it remains high in others and is increasing among women and in developing countries. Between one-fifth and two-thirds of men in most populations smoke. Women's smoking rates vary more widely but rarely equal male rates.[86]

In Indonesia, the lowest income group spends 15% of its total expenditures on tobacco. In Egypt, more than 10% of households' expenditure in low-income homes is on tobacco. The poorest 20% of households in Mexico spend 11% of their income on tobacco.[87]
Advertising
Main article: Tobacco advertising

Tobacco advertising of tobacco products by the tobacco industry is through a variety of media, including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. It is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing. Some or all forms of tobacco advertising are banned in many countries.
Cinema

    Thank You for Smoking
    The Insider

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Secondhand Smoke by BeTobaccoFree.gov
Le Foll, Bernard; Goldberg, Steven R. (1 April 2005). "Nicotine induces conditioned place preferences over a large range of doses in rats". Psychopharmacology. 178 (4): 481–492. ISSN 0033-3158. PMID 15765262. doi:10.1007/s00213-004-2021-5.
Fischman, N; Mello, N. Testing for Abuse Liability of Drugs in Humans (PDF). 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration National Institute on Drug Abuse. p. 79.
"Tobacco Facts - Why is Tobacco So Addictive?". Tobaccofacts.org. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
"Philip Morris Information Sheet". Stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
Proctor Robert N (2012). "The history of the discovery of the cigarette-lung cancer link: evidentiary traditions, corporate denial, global toll" (PDF). Tobacco Control. 21: 87–91. PMID 22345227. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050338.
Nutt, David J.; King, Leslie A.; Phillips, Lawrence D. (6 November 2010). "Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis". Lancet. 376 (9752): 1558–1565. ISSN 1474-547X. PMID 21036393. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6.
Hunt, Vilma (January 17, 1964). "Polonium-210: A Volatile Radioelement in Cigarettes". Science. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
Sublette, Carey. "Polonium Poisoning".
Chomsky, Noam. [www.youtube.com "Why marijuana is illegal and tobacco is legal"] Check |url= value (help). You tube. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
"Tobacco: Active and Passive Smoking". Greenfacts.org. Retrieved 5 July 2016.

    World Health Organization (2008). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008: The MPOWER Package (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 92-4-159628-7. page 20

Further reading

    "WHO REPORT on the global TOBACCO epidemic" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
    "The Global Burden of Disease 2004 Update" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
    G. Emmanuel Guindon; David Boisclair (2003). "Past, current and future trends in tobacco use" (PDF). Washington DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
    The World Health Organization, and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (2001). "Women and the Tobacco Epidemic: Challenges for the 21st Century" (PDF). World Health Organization. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
    "Surgeon General's Report — Women and Smoking". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2001. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
    Richard Peto; Alan D Lopez; Jillian Boreham; Michael Thun (2006). "Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950-2000: indirect estimates from national vital statistics" (PDF). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
    Gilman, Sander L.; Zhou, Xun (2004). Smoke: A Global History of Smoking. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-200-3. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
    "Cancer Facts & Figures 2015". American Cancer Society. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
    Paul Lichtenstein; Niels V. Holm; Pia K. Verkasalo; Anastasia Iliadou; Jaakko Kaprio; Markku Koskenvuo; Eero Pukkala; Axel Skytthe; Kari Hemminki (2000). Environmental and Heritable Factors in the Causation of Cancer — Analyses of Cohorts of Twins from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. 343. New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
    Montesano, R.; Hall, J. (2001). "Environmental causes of human cancers". European Journal of Cancer. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
    Janet E. Ash; Maryadele J. O'Neil; Ann Smith; Joanne F. Kinneary (June 1997) [1996]. The Merck Index (12 ed.). Merk and Co. ISBN 0-412-75940-3.
    Benedict, Carol. Golden-Silk Smoke: A History of Tobacco in China, 1550-2010 (2011)
    Brandt, Allan. The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America (2007)
    Breen, T. H. (1985). Tobacco Culture. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00596-6. Source on tobacco culture in 18th-century Virginia pp. 46–55
    Burns, Eric. The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007.
    Collins, W.K. and S.N. Hawks. "Principles of Flue-Cured Tobacco Production" 1st Edition, 1993
    Cosner, Charlotte. The Golden Leaf: How Tobacco Shaped Cuba and the Atlantic World (Vanderbilt University Press; 2015)
    Fuller, R. Reese (Spring 2003). Perique, the Native Crop. Louisiana Life.
    Gately, Iain. Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization. Grove Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8021-3960-4.
    Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History:The Cultures of Dependence (1993), A scholarly history worldwide.
    Graves, John. "Tobacco that is not Smoked" in From a Limestone Ledge (the sections on snuff and chewing tobacco) ISBN 0-394-51238-3
    Grehan, James. Smoking and "Early Modern" Sociability: The Great Tobacco Debate in the Ottoman Middle East (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries). The American Historical Review, Vol. III, Issue 5. 2006. 22 March 2008 online
    Hahn, Barbara. Making Tobacco Bright: Creating an American Commodity, 1617-1937 (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2011) 248 pages; examines how marketing, technology, and demand figured in the rise of Bright Flue-Cured Tobacco, a variety first grown in the inland Piedmont region of the Virginia-North Carolina border.
    Killebrew, J. B. and Myrick, Herbert (1909). Tobacco Leaf: Its Culture and Cure, Marketing and Manufacture. Orange Judd Company. Source for flea beetle typology (p. 243)
    Kluger, Richard. Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War (1996), Pulitzer Prize
    Murphey, Rhoads. Studies on Ottoman Society and Culture: 16th-18th Centuries. Burlington, VT: Ashgate: Variorum, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7546-5931-0 ISBN 0-7546-5931-3
    Neuburger, Mary, 2012. Balkan Smoke: tobacco and the making of modern Bulgaria. Cornell University Press. 0801450845, 9780801450846
    Poche, L. Aristee (2002). Perique tobacco: Mystery and history.
    Price, Jacob M. "The rise of Glasgow in the Chesapeake tobacco trade, 1707-1775." William and Mary Quarterly (1954) pp: 179-199. in JSTOR
    Tilley, Nannie May The Bright Tobacco Industry 1860–1929 ISBN 0-405-04728-2.
    Schoolcraft, Henry R. Historical and Statistical Information respecting the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1851–57)
    Shechter, Relli. Smoking, Culture and Economy in the Middle East: The Egyptian Tobacco Market 1850–2000. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2006 ISBN 1-84511-137-0

External links
Find more about
Tobacco
at Wikipedia's sister projects

    Definitions from Wiktionary
    Media from Commons
    News from Wikinews
    Quotations from Wikiquote
    Texts from Wikisource
    Textbooks from Wikibooks
    Learning resources from Wikiversity

    International Tobacco Growers' Association
    Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Sheet - Wild tobacco
    Ottoman Back Archives and Research Centre
    Questions on European Union partial ban on some smokeless tobacco products (i.e. snus)
    Timeline of tobacco history
    The European tobacco growers website
    The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
    UCSF Tobacco Industry Videos Collection
    CDC - Smoking and Tobacco Use Fact Sheet
    TobReg - WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation
    - Statistics and general information about the effects of secondhand-smoke
    Scientists Search for Healthy Uses for Tobacco
    Charlton A (2004). "Medicinal uses of tobacco in history". J R Soc Med. 97: 292–6. PMC 1079499 Freely accessible. PMID 15173337. doi:10.1258/jrsm.97.6.292.

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