Tobacco: panacea in the XVI century and pathology in the XX century

Abstract

Tobacco came to Europe as a plant with curative value. Some physicians from the XVI and XVII centuries impute to the tobacco several therapeutic purposes, and although there were some objections regarding this practice, the idea of tobacco as a panacea prevailed for a long period. In the mid twentieth century its harmful effect on health is established, initially for lung cancer and then for many other diseases. Tobacco is currently one of the modifiable risk factors with the highest number of attributable deaths.