Did you know that in the US the effects of smoking cause more deaths than HIV, illegal drugs, alcohol, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined? Have you had someone in your family who has suffered or died from the effects of smoking. I know I have, and the previous fact makes those deaths all the more tragic when you realize how preventable the deadly illnesses that result from smoking really are. Avoiding smoking entirely, can literally be the difference between life and death. The detrimental effects of smoking to your health, the carcinogenic materials in cigarettes and that comprise the smoke byproduct, and the surprising negative impact on one’s appearance are compelling reasons to never engage in smoking.
Most people don’t realize how many poisons, toxic metals, and even radioactive material that are in and/or come from cigarettes and the cigarette smoke byproduct. For example, arsenic, found in rat poison, and the highly addictive, nicotine, are active ingredients in cigarettes along with its primary ingredient, tobacco. Both nicotine and arsenic are found in pesticides used in tobacco farming. The tar in cigarettes coats the lungs and disables the cilia in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Over time, some of these damaged cells become cancerous making smoking a leading factor to lung diseases.
While the ingredients of cigarettes are harmful, the cigarette smoke byproduct might be even worse. Carbon Monoxide, also found in car exhaust, is known to be life-threatening in sizable amounts. Cigarette smoke contains high levels of this gas. Hydrogen Cyanide, used to execute people in gas chambers during World War II, is another poisonous byproduct of cigarette smoke. Lead-210 and Polonium-210 ...
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...rious Risks to Your Health.”, “Smoking by Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, and Low Birth Weight.”, and “Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide”. Before issuing these warnings, people understandably were not fully aware of the dangers of smoking. Now that these warnings are in place, any reason to smoke should be viewed as an assault to the person, since even vanity excuse has been eliminated as illogical and impractical by even superficial people.
Negative effects of smoking go even beyond health to one’s appearance. Mid 20th century, this activity that was once considered popular and even classy has now been proven to be quite deadly and painfully so, as the diseases caused by smoking often linger, causing a painful death. Now that we know the full effects of smoking it is simply a foolish and destructive choice to make for one’s body
Before D.A.R.E., I was not mindful of the extensive damage cigarettes and other tobacco products cause. Cigarette smoke contains over 200 harmful chemicals, including rat poison. Because of nicotine, cigarettes are highly addictive. As a result, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. It causes over 400,000 deaths annually.
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.
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.
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
These statistics show that amounts of cancerous and toxic chemicals are incredibly high, therefore, smoking should be illegal in public because these chemicals affect the health of the surrounding civilians. Chemicals in tobacco products range from toxic metals, to poisonous gases, to carcinogens, or cancer causing chemicals. The CDC lists examples of these chemicals and other uses by describing, “Formaldehyde is used to embalm dead bodies. Benzene is found in gasoline. Polonium-210 is radioactive and very toxic. Vinyl Chloride is used to make pipes. Carbon Monoxide is found in car exhaust. Hydrogen Cyanide is used in chemical weapons. Butane is used in lighter fluid. Ammonia is used in household cleaners. Toluene is found in paint thinners. Cadmium is used in making batteries. Lead was once used in paint and pencils. Arsenic is used in pesticides. Chromium is used to make steel” (Be Tobacco Free 2). These chemicals have very dangerous secondary uses and are not ideal substances that should be ingested by humans. The
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.
Cigarettes can kill people by causing more deaths than alcohol use, firearm-related incidents, HIV, illegal drug use, and even motor vehicle accidents. Another thing that can kill you from cigarettes are two poisons called carbon monoxide and tar. Carbon monoxide is defined as “it is found in a car exhaust fumes and is fatal in large doses. It replaces oxygen in the blood and starves organs of oxygen and stops them being able to function properly.” Tar is defined by “a sticky, brown substance that coats the lungs and affects
Second Hand Smoke In the 1950's and 60's scientists gave the people a lot of evidence on the deadly effects of smoking where the tobacco companies on the other hand tried to put the doubt in people’s minds through the campaigns to show that it is not all true. By the time people actually decided to take care of their health and finally saw how life-threatening smoking could be by real life examples, the tobacco companies already got rich from its sales. Nowadays, nobody doubts that “firsthand” smoke is deadly to your health and it causes lung cancer and heart disease in adults and asthma and bronchitis in children. Now the industry is onto the secondhand smoke. Scientists and researchers are representing a lot of evidence and research that has been done throughout the years showing that the secondhand smoke can also cause a lung cancer in nonsmokers. The study has been done of people who have been long exposed to secondhand smoke and it shows that 26 out of 33 published studies indicate a link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer. The study estimates that the people that were breathing secondhand smoke were 8 to 150 percent more likely to get lung cancer. The tobacco companies are trying to argue the facts and are still in serious debate about the health hazards of breathing a secondhand smoke. A lot of anti-smoking organizations are trying to turn smoking in public into a private activity that does not have to involve nonsmokers breathing secondhand smoke. What is even more important is that many of these organizations convinced a lot of smokers to cut back or quit completely. The problem of secondhand smoke is increasing because it is so common in our society. It makes secondhand smoke the third-ranking cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Mothers who live with a smoking spouse have to realize the ill effects of secondhand smoke on children even before they are born. The smoking components reach the developing fetus through the mother. Infants that are born in a smoking environment weigh less and have a weaker chance of becoming a fully developed child. Secondhand smoke leads to blood clots and damages arterial linings which are the two most leading factors in the development of heart disease. The tobacco companies got scared of the effect that the secondhand smoke research can do to the cigarette makers.
can cause cancer ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/smokingthefacts/hp099201.html). Many of the ingredients in cigarettes are not substances that humans usually consume, but smokers (and the non-smokers around them) do. Some of the ingredients contained in cigarettes are a type of rat. poison, a type of paint stripper, a type of toilet cleaner, lighter. fuel, the chemical found in mothballs, poison that was once used in gas chambers and there is even a type of rocket fuel found in cigarettes (http://ash.org/additives.html).
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 walks by someone who is exhaling. In the article by Robert Proctor “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition” states that cigarettes are the “most deadly object in the history of human civilization”.... ...
Every year new medical reports are issued regarding the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die every year from diseases caused by smoking. Approximately one in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age. The most common of the diseases caused by smoking is cancer, of course. Not only is it a cause of lung cancer, but cancer of the larynx, and the esophagus, and it contributes to the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, and kidney. Lung cancer comes from the tar in the cigarettes. The tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney. It does not make a difference if a smoker changes to low-tar cigarettes because smokers will take a deeper puff to get the same affect as a regular cigarette. This causes them to draw the tar deeper into their lungs causing even more damage. The Surgeon General requires that every package of cigarettes has one of the following statements: SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide. Despite these warnings most of the population is not aware of the other illnesses that can develop...
Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today (Encarta, 2002). Until the 1940?s, smoking was considered harmless. It was at this time that epidemiologists noticed a dramatic increase in the cases of lung cancer. A study was then conducted between smokers and nonsmokers to determine if cigarettes were the cause of this increase. This study, conducted by the American Cancer Society, found increased mortality among smokers. Yet it was not until 1964 that the Surgeon General put out a report acknowledging the danger of cigarettes. The first action to curb smoking was the mandate of a warning on cigarette packages by the Federal Trade Commission (Encarta, 2002). In 1971, all cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television, and cities and states passed laws requiring nonsmoking sections in public places and workplaces (Encarta, 2002). Now in some cities smoking is being completely banned from public places and workplaces and various people are striving for more of these laws against smoking.
One of the biggest problems that people are faced with on a day-to-day basis is cigarette smoke. The sole cause for 480,000 deaths each year just in the United States is accredit to cigarettes(CDC). For a lot of the smokers the habit of smoking happens to assist them when under stress and dealing with issues that are unmanageable. Some smoke to appeal to their peers or simply because it “feels good.” Smoking one cigarette can lead to a major addiction. The effects of smoking hurt oneself and those amongst us. Smoking Kills as the ad portrays this revolver and cigarettes as the bullets, and also lists the side effects of smoking. Cigarettes causes cancer, increases the risk of you getting a stroke, highly addictive and causes a lot of health problems. Nearly 16
“Dangers of Smoking Cigarettes for Smokers” healthliteracy.worlded.org. Copyright 1995 by Marjorie Jacobs revised 1997, n.d web 14 April 2011
Scientists and health officials have been arguing the detrimental effects smoking has on our health for many years. Smoking can lead to serious complications including asthma, pancreas, lung and stomach cancer due to the large number of carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) and other various substances added to it. It is a health hazard for both smokers and non-smokers and it is especially harmful to unborn babies. Although smokers claim that it helps them to relax and release stress, the negative aspects of the habit take over the positive. As it has been stressed by the scientists and experts, there are some very severe reasons of smoking but its crucial consequences should also be taken into consideration.