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The effects of smoking on a person’s health
The effects of smoking on a person’s health
Negative impacts of smoking
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Recommended: The effects of smoking on a person’s health
Abdellatif Elmansouri
English Composition 1
Jesse Holcomb
March 19, 2014
Tobacco Shouldn’t Be Banned
Tobacco is one of the most popular products in the United States and one of the most used drugs in the world, especially in the form of cigarettes. Even though many countries put restrictions on using tobacco, the numbers of people that smoke everyday has increased, even when they know it is harmful to their health. Smokers make up approximately 26% of the United States population, so a ban of this product seems unfair. That’s why I will argue that smoking shouldn’t be banned completely for several reasons.
First, many smokers start using cigarettes between 10 to 18 years old, many using nicotine either for fun or because they felt bored or are in need of a stress relief, or maybe other social reasons such as peer pressure or desire for acceptance. All these reasons, and others, are leading smokers to become addicted to nicotine. When they first try smoking and enjoy the first cigarette, they keep doing it. It’s simply like when you buy a new brand of ice cream and you like it then you keep buying more and more, no one makes you become addicted to it but yourself and your desire.
Second, the uses of tobacco products provide many benefits to the health of a smoker, such as lowering the risk of obesity because nicotine acts as an appetite suppressant. Also, the act of smoking can cause behavior modification causes smokers to eat less. Smoking also makes food tasteless due to its effect on the sense of taste in the tongue, which has been known for decades. Tobacco companies in the 1920s began targeting women with the allure that cigarettes would make them thin and become attractive. Also, there was a study published in July 2011 ...
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... their age. The society can’t do anything about this, unless the government controlled tobacco advertisers or make obtaining tobacco harder by putting more regulations, especially for minors, such as rising the minimum age to buy cigarettes.
Finally, I will advice those who try to ban smoking to find a good reason to do so. Don’t blame another factor for your own problems, nicotine doesn’t kill humans, there is no proof of that. If you have lung cancer and you went to your doctor he can’t prove that because the cigarettes that you are smoking you now have lung cancer. I totally agree that smoking has some side effects, but that’s normal. You can also become ill and get harmful side effects if you use Advil or other medicine. Also, everyone knows that smoking may cause them a bad thing, but if they still want to smoke after that, it is their problem not your problem.
Cigarette addiction is responsible for over four million deaths every year. The question most people ask is why don’t people just put down their cigarettes? Well, the answer to that often asked question is nicotine. Nicotine is a neurotransmitter that targets certain receptors in the brain. It is a chemical messenger that induces feelings of pleasure. When someone takes a hit off of a cigarette, they ingest the harmful chemicals that can cause cancer and other serious health threats. They only inhale these chemicals to get one thing and one thing only, nicotine.
In countries such as Indonesia and others in the Middle East, there are no restrictions on the age one can smoke tobacco. In Indonesia, documentaries show children as young as five smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. There is no argument that Tobacco is bad, but its not going anywhere. But how we do attempt to prevent children from smoking. It prevents development at such an early age and poses numerous health issues. The question is who should be held accountable? And what should be done?
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The most common form of tobacco used is the cigarette. Smoking for most people gives satisfaction and pleasure. The tobacco chemicals that are released into the brain when inhaled cause a happy or joyous feeling to the person. People often turn to cigarettes to suppress hunger or relieve stress (Dichter). After a short period of time, a person can become addicted to the satisfaction they get from smoking a cigarette. Certain tobacco products contain toxins, carcinogens, and poisons that are all extremely harmful to the human body. 60 chemicals that are contained in a tobacco cigarette are cancer-causing agents (Wexner). It is these chemicals that make cigarettes as well as other tobacco products so addicting to their users. Over time the need for a cigarette increases and the harder it becomes to quit smoking. Some users turn to smoking alternatives in order to quit. The first thing a smoker will reach for is something that looks and feels similar to a normal cigarette.
Some actions should be taken on tobacco products because the risk of getting cancer is high. People vape everywhere in today’s society, blowing a massive amount of smoke that lingers in the air and could cause people nearby to cough or even children near it to cough. There needs to be a policy to ban cigarettes, it kills the smoker, in addition, it could kill the person exposed to the smoke from cigarettes. “The cigarette is also a defective product, meaning not just dangerous but unreasonably dangerous, killing half its long-term users” (Proctor). Cigarettes are not healthy in any way making it a defective product, it mainly kills the smoker rather than helping them.
Experiencing the death of a loved one is never easy, especially when the cause is something self-inflicted, such as cigarettes. Imagine if that loved one was your parent or even worse, your own child. Now, imagine watching the demise and physical incapacities that transpire while you see them deteriorate right in front of you. Feel the anger that would coarse through your veins if you were to see an add that glamorized such deadly instruments, particularly once you realize that the areas being marketed are lower class. Cigarettes are legal killers that cripple many individuals and families alike. They are a highly addictive substance that benefit no one. I am against cigarettes in every capacity as I have dealt with the effects of it on a personal level. Cigarettes leave a distaste in the mouth literally and figuratively. I am also a firm believer that
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
This year alone cigarettes will kill over 420,000 Americans, and many more will suffer from cancers, and circulatory and respiratory system diseases. These horrible illnesses were known to come from cigarettes for years. Recently the Food and Drug Administration declared nicotine, the main chemical in cigarettes, addictive. This explains why smokers continue to use cigarettes even though smokers are aware of the constantly warned about health dangers in cigarettes. Some researchers have also found out that smoking by pregnant women causes the deaths of over 5,000 babies and 115,000 miscarriages. The only way to get rid of the suffering and loss of life by cigarettes is to ban them. . For years cigarettes have been known to cause cancer, emphysema, and other horrible illnesses. The deaths of over 420,000 of Americans this year will be do to cigarettes. With all the other causes of deaths, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still count for more deaths than those do combined. We can’t stand and watch people die because they smoke cigarettes. Thousands of smokers try to rid themselves of cigarettes but can't because of additive nicotine. Nicotine was recently declared addictive by the Food and Drug Administration, which explains why many smokers continue to smoke despite the health warnings on cigarette smoking. Nicotine makes it almost impossible for cigarette smokers to quit smoking because of its addictive nature, and with the cigarette manufacturers putting just enough nicotine in the so they cant be outlawed. The benefits of outlawing cigarettes greatly outnumber the disadvantages, for example, many scientists believe a link between smoking and a shortened life span exists between the two, a ban on cigarettes could increase life spans. Many studies suggest that billions of dollars now spent on smoking related. Smoking related illnesses could be reduced by outlawing cigarettes, families could save money by not purchasing cigarettes, and accidental fires costing millions of dollars caused by cigarettes would stop. Although a complete ban on cigarettes currently remains almost impossible, several organizations recently helped create a bill that could control cigarettes much in the same way the government now controls drugs. One such organization, the Food and Drug Administration, headed by David Kesslar drafted a major part, which would require manufacturers to disclose the 700 chemical additives in cigarettes, reduce the level of harmful chemicals, require cigarette companies to warn of the addictive nicotine, restrict tobacco advertising and promotion, and control the level of nicotine cigarettes contain.
One of the largest and most problematic health issues in our society is smoking. Smoking is currently the leading cause of death in our country, due to its harmful and addictive contents, such as nicotine and tobacco. Although millions die from it each year, smoking is the single most preventable cause of death. Without smoking, a tremendous amount of money and lives will be saved. I think that our country should ban smoking and the production of cigarettes in order to maintain a healthier nation, help save the environment, and prevent the almost 1000 deaths that they cause in fires each year.
Ninety percent of smokers begin before the age nineteen. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Thirty percent of teenagers that smoke continue to smoke and die early because of it. Studies have also show that the first time tobacco is introduced in one’s life is before graduation. (11 facts about teen smoking) Teen smoking is not only dangerous but is also very deadly. Over thirteen hundred people in the United States die a day because of smoking, so if we can decrease the amount of teen smoking would decrease those numbers dramatically. If we as people would help show those who smoke the cost of how much money they spend just in a month own cigarettes just that could change their mind. Many of the one is who smoke tend to have problems financially. We need to show them that cigarettes cost so much and could increase the amount of money they could have for themselves or for other things that they need at home or for some can help pay for their
Secondarily, smoking cigarettes give the people some unique sensation and pleasure to the body that makes them keep wanting more. There are many people argued that cigarette smoking is helpful to people and that those also have the advantages for smoking it. Cigarette contains some substance that made people feel good because it stimulates their mood and help them relax. Boughton proclaims in her article “Smoking” that “... nicotine can act as either a stimulant or tranquilizer, which explains why some people report that smoking gives them energy and stimulates their mental activity, while others note that smoking relieves anxiety and relaxes them” (2090). So, people are craving for cigarettes because it has something to offer for their body. It contains an ingredient in it that help them be calm and away from any kinds of stress and emotional problems.
Although it is beneficial for the economy for the production of tobacco products it is extremely risky to use the product. According to researchers second-hand smoke is terrible for everyone in the world who walk by someone who is exhaling. In the article by Robert Proctor “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition” he states that cigarettes are the “most deadl...
Smoking cigarettes is a very deadly addiction that, unfortunately, 42.1 million adults in the United States and 6.4 million children have. The reason why so many people get addicted to cigarettes because of nicotine. Medicinenet.com says that nicotine is “Made by the tobacco plant or produced synthetically. Nicotine has powerful pharmacologic effects (including increased heart rate, heart stroke volume, and oxygen consumption by the heart muscle), as well as powerful psychodynamic effects (such as euphoria, increased alertness, and a sense of relaxation). Nicotine is also powerfully addictive.”
It’s not that easy to quit smoking cigarettes, it can be very hard especially for many people who have been smoking for years. Many people are addicted to this drug because of the nicotine that’s in the tobacco, which is very addictive. Nicotine is the most common word that most smokers use and is there excuse why they can’t stop saying “it’s so addicting”. Like heroin or other addictive drugs, the body and mind quickly become so used to the nicotine in cigarettes that a person needs to have it just to feel normal (Smoking). Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient in a cigarette that activates synthesis of a chemical called dopamine in the brain (Naturstopp). This is just one of the chemicals that are in a cigarette, there are over 599 more chemicals that are in a cigarette. To name a few there is acetone, ammonia, tar, benzene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides etc (Naturstopp). Some of these chemicals might not seem harmful, but it’s the burning of these chemicals that produce toxic and carcinogenic compounds more than 4000 of them (Naturstopp). Smoking cigarettes can be devastating; especially with each inhale you exhale.
From many perspectives, the word smoking means different things to different people. Some might think smoking means relaxation while others might think of smoking as a harmful disease. Cigarettes were invented over a century ago. Since then, many people have started to smoke which has led to many issues that the world faces today. Smoking is a serious issue that needs the attention of all American citizens. Even though the United States cannot control what other countries think about this issue, they can definitely set an example for others to follow. Smoking causes major issues for the smokers themselves and for other people around them. Due to the health effects caused by smoking cigarettes and secondhand smoke, the American government should