ABSTRACT
When politicians talk about tobacco today, they usually consider the industry that produces and sells tobacco products, the “public health enemy number one.” As Kenneth E. Warner, Professor of Public Health at the University of Michigan, remarks, “[f]or governments, tobacco is both a health threat and a powerful economic force that annually generates hundreds of billions of dollars in sales and billions more in tax revenues.” “Tobacco is the most widespread non-edible agricultural plant around the world,” and is harvested in more than eighty countries. The plant reaches a height of up to 8.2 feet with leaves ranging from 1.9–2.6 feet. There are close to a hundred known species, but Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica are the two that are commercially used. Once tobacco had been brought to Europe by those who came in contact with the plant during their travels in the New World, it was not only consumers who developed an increasing interest in it.
