Medicinal uses of tobacco in history

The tobacco plant, Nicotiana, has probably been responsible for more deaths than any other herb. At present, tobacco smoking is causing over 3 million deaths a year worldwide, and if current smoking trends continue the annual mortality will exceed 10 million by around 2030.1 Add to this the mortality from cancers caused by oral uses and the death toll becomes still higher. Undoubtedly, tobacco is the most important avoidable cause of premature death and disease in the world.2 Tobacco leaves and the smoke generated when they are burned contain over 4 thousand chemicals,3 the best known of which is nicotine, first isolated from tobacco leaves in 1828 by Posselt and Reimann.4 It is the nicotine that causes smokers to become addicted to tobacco, and the chemical itself is lethal in small doses.5 When tobacco smoke is