Tobacco: the world's most deadly industry

A farmer’s child sits on a tobacco bale on the floor of a tobacco auction house in Periyapatna, India. — A farmer’s child sits on a tobacco bale on the floor of a tobacco auction house in Periyapatna, India

The global impacts of the tobacco industry on the young, on workers, on the economy, on health services and on crime

Rocco Rorandelli has spent more than a decade travelling the world documenting and photographing the impacts of the tobacco industry

Around the world, more than 1.2 billion people are addicted to cigarettes – about half of whom will die as a consequence of the habit. The World Health Organization puts the annual global cost, including health care and lost productivity, at nearly US$2 trillion. Children are not only targeted to fill the ever-depleting ranks of consumers but are forced into hard labour to produce the crop. In some countries, the demand for land to produce tobacco is the biggest single cause of deforestation.

Cigarette manufacturers target the young

Globally, an estimated 50 million 13–15-year-olds smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco products. According to the Tobacco Atlas produced by the University of Illinois, Chicago, in many developing countries, tobacco use is now more common among teenagers than it is among young adults.

The tobacco industry targets young people with brightly coloured new products such as these vapes displayed in a shop window in Geneva, Switzerland

A salesperson promotes cigarettes inside a water park in Jakarta, Indonesia. Salespeople are typically female students. They’re forced to sign an exclusivity contract stating that they won’t work for any other tobacco company. In Indonesia, tobacco brands have a high-profile presence at music, sport and cultural events

Indonesia has the highest rate of underage smokers in the world. More than 30 per cent of Indonesian children start smoking before the age of ten, encouraged by aggressive marketing strategies and low cigarette costs. In total, the country has 165 million smokers – more than a third of its population. The growth of sales in emerging markets such as Indonesia’s has more than compensated for the drop in consumption that has taken place in Europe and the USA

A global industry making trillions of cigarettes each year

Six trillion cigarettes are produced each year. The trade is dominated by a handful of multinationals, the largest being the state-owned China National Tobacco Corporation, which makes 2.5 trillion cigarettes a year, followed by Philip Morris (990 billion cigarettes a year worth more than US$47.1 billion).

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China manufactures more cigarettes than any other country. The Hongta automated plant in Yuxi is considered to be the world’s most advanced and produces 135 billion cigarettes a year – 12 per cent of the country’s output

The Chinese government funds institutions such as the College of Tobacco Science at Yunnan Agricultural University, which carries out research into the production of pest-resistant seeds, such as those pictured here, to improve yields. More than a million hectares of agricultural land is given over to tobacco production in China

Cigarette smuggling is a key part of the industry

A number of studies have found multinational producers complicit in cigarette smuggling, which they see as a way to secure long-term market share. Up to six per cent of the total global trade in cigarettes involves cross-border smuggling.

The central depository for counterfeit and illegally imported cigarettes in southern Italy is located in the former state cigarette-manufacturing plant. Seized cigarettes are stored in order to verify their origin and legal status, before being destroyed. Italy acts as a core transit hub for illegal tobacco, thanks to its position as a bridge between Eastern Europe, North Africa and the EU — The central depository for counterfeit and illegally imported cigarettes in southern Italy is located in the former state cigarette manufacturing plant. Seized cigarettes are stored in order to verify their origin and legal status, before being destroyed. Italy acts as a core transit hub for illegal tobacco, thanks to its position as a bridge between Eastern Europe, North Africa and the EU

Slovenian customs officials on the lookout for trucks arriving from Ukraine – the leading source of contraband cigarettes shipped to the EU. More than 4.8 billion cigarettes are smuggled from Ukraine each year, accounting for almost 11 per cent of the total contraband volume shipped to the EU. Revenue generated by the illicit tobacco trade in the EU is comparable to that of the cocaine and heroin markets

Tobacco impacts on the health of workers

The World Health Organization’s first global treaty, in 2008, was to combat the problems of child labour and the health risks common to tobacco production.

A female worker in Pangire, India, at a factory that makes ‘bidis’ (a cheap and highly popular type of cigarette made from unprocessed tobacco wrapped in leaves). Inside bidi plants, the air is saturated with tobacco dust. The workers have no protection

Miguel, 14, in a tobacco field in North Carolina, USA, early on a Sunday morning. He works 12–13 hours a day during the summer, earning US$7.85 an hour. Both of his undocumented parents work in the tobacco fields. Advocates who study migrant farmworker families estimate that as many as half a million children currently work on US tobacco farms. Handling tobacco leaves causes the absorption of high doses of nicotine, the equivalent of 12 cigarettes a day, or as many as 36 on a humid day, leading to what’s called green tobacco sickness. Children, with their lower body mass, have a lower intoxication threshold for both nicotine and the chemicals used in tobacco farming

Women work on the sorting line of a tobacco-threshing plant in Francolise, Italy. They are exposed to high levels of tobacco dust and are at risk of nicotine poisoning

A tobacco taster employed by Shah Chhanganlal Ugarchand in Nipani, India, one of the region’s largest tobacco agents. A tobacco taster smokes up to 100 cigarettes a day in order to grade the different batches of tobacco

One tree is cut down to produce every 15 packs of cigarettes

Tobacco is grown in 125 countries by an estimated 33 million farmers, often directly supported by tobacco companies. It’s a labour-intensive, low-yield crop that needs high levels of pesticides. UNICEF has calculated that if food were grown in its place, 20 million hungry people would benefit.

A cleared area to be planted with tobacco. It has been calculated that one tree has to be cut down in order to produce 15 packs of cigarettes, with a total loss of 600 million trees globally every year. About 200,000 hectares of forest and woodland are eliminated throughout the world by tobacco farming each year — A cleared area to be planted with tobacco. It has been calculated that one tree must be cut down to produce 15 packs of cigarettes, with a total loss of 600 million trees globally every year. About 200,000 hectares of forest and woodland are eliminated throughout the world by tobacco farming each year

An Indian tobacco labourer in a field where bidi tobacco and sorghum is mixed. This technique helps farmers reduce their dependency on tobacco

Tobacco leaves drying next to a house in Marchevo, Bulgaria. Most Bulgarian tobacco farmers dry leaves at their homes; in most cases, the crop is the sole source of a cash income for the year

A woman picks tobacco leaves in Marcianise, Italy. This variety of tobacco is harvested over the summer by removing leaves from the lower part of the stem

Tobacco is a global health

Each year, more than 8.7 million people die from tobacco use. Most of those deaths (7.4 million) are attributed to direct tobacco use, while the remaining more than 1.3 million deaths are attributed to exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. Around 80 per cent of these deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries.