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{
    "id": 234147,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234147/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 227,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Capt. Nakitare",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 348,
        "legal_name": "Davis Wafula Nakitare",
        "slug": "davis-nakitare"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to revisit my discussion yesterday on the ills of tobacco as a crop promoted by multinational companies. This is done not withstanding the constraints caused by the tobacco industry. These cannot be left without challenge. We have heard statistics as provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO). We have been told that tobacco, as a crop, has only 15 per cent lead. The lead is traced to atoms that are not understood by those who smoke. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also heard that industries blend this crop in factories with additives, which have high lead content. As you know, the industries have realised that lead is a metal that causes ailments to human beings. These ailments include cancer. I talked about the anatomy of a human being yesterday. We want to take it in a preliminary plate. We would like to tell people who smoke to examine their tongues and oesophagus. I talked about how effectively carbon dioxide from smoking tobacco can penetrate through bronchioles to the extent that it absorbs oxygen and weakens the growth of a person. When you look at an expectant woman who smokes--- We have been told by doctors that a pregnant woman should not smoke. This is correct. There is no food value in tobacco. When a pregnant woman smokes, 0.2 per cent of the lead atoms get to the foetus through blood. As a result, babies can be easily deformed before birth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many times we have talked about the origin of this crop. We know very well that tobacco was consumed as far back as 3,500 B.C. We are aware that Francis Drake exported tobacco to England to 1455. We are also aware that the explorer, Christopher Columbus, landed in the new world in the 14th century and exported this crop from St. Domingo in the Dominica to North America, which includes California. Because of the interest that man had, it was discovered that the crop has only one value, smoking. It does not have any other value. I challenge people who say that they grow tobacco as an income earning crop. It is a crop, I agree, but why can we not replace it with cotton? Cotton is a shallow-rooted plant that can withstand drought. It does not require rich soil. The same applies to tobacco. Where tobacco grows, cotton will grow."
}