When was the earliest known human use of tobacco?
Scientists have found evidence of the earliest known tobacco use in the remains of a hearth built by early inhabitants of North America’s interior about 12,300 years ago in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. The research by Far Western Anthropological Research Group in Nevada was published on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021, in Nature Human Behaviour. Until now, the earliest documented use of tobacco came in nicotine residue found inside a smoking pipe from Alabama dating to 3,300 years ago.
How many people use tobacco worldwide?
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is now a worldwide public health crisis, with 1.3 billion tobacco users and more than 8 million annual tobacco-related deaths.