Smoking

The term tobacco addiction defines a state of chronic intoxication by tobacco; or addiction caused by tobacco. (Its synonym is nicotinism). Smoking is a real public health problem for a number of reasons: (i) most tobacco-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which are often the victims of tobacco industry interference and where intensive marketing strategies are implemented by these tobacco industries; (ii) the notion of passive smoking is an expression to account for the harmful effect of tobacco and nicotine on non-smokers, exposed to the smoke of smokers, and (iii) smoking is the cause of many non-communicable diseases.