Bidis, small hand-rolled cigarettes typically smoked in India and other South-East Asian countries, produce three times more carbon monoxide and nicotine and five times more tar than regular cigarettes. Bidi smokers have a three-fold higher risk of oral cancer compared with non-smokers and are also at increased risk of lung, stomach and oesophageal cancer.
Kreteks, clove and tobacco cigarettes most commonly smoked in Indonesia, place smokers at increased risk of acute lung injury. Shisha, tobacco cured with flavourings and smoked from hookahs primarily in the Eastern Mediterranean region, is linked to lung disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Smokers are not the only ones sickened and killed by tobacco.
Second-hand smoke also has serious and often fatal health consequences. In the United States, second-hand smoke causes about 3 400 lung cancer deaths and 46 000 heart disease deaths a year. Second-hand smoke is responsible in the United States for an estimated 430 cases of sudden infant death syndrome, 24 500 low-birth-weight babies, 71 900 pre-term deliveries and 200 000 episodes of childhood asthma annually.
Smokeless tobacco is also highly addictive and causes cancer of the head and neck, oesophagus and pancreas, as well as many oral diseases. There is evidence that some forms of smokeless tobacco may also increase the risk of heart disease and low-birth-weight babies