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Does Smoking Cause Lung Cancer Essay

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INTRODUCTION

It's a proven fact. Each year more Americans die from lung cancer and other smoking related diseases than they die from aids, drug abuse, car accidents and homicide, combined. Cigarette smoking is a danger to our life and health. It is the leading known cause of lung cancer. Each year more than 30,000 people will die of lung cancer and 4 out of 5 of them will get it because of cigarette smoke. Studies have proven that there is no safe way to smoke. Tobacco contains many dangerous cancer causing chemicals that affects the lungs of the smoker and the nonsmoker, so smoking just a little amount can increase your chances of getting lung cancer. The Surgeon General has said that "smoking is the single most important …show more content…

If you smoke, you are more likely to develop the disease. Men who smoke are 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer, while women who smoke are estimated to be 12 times more likely. The earlier you start smoking and the longer you smoke increases the danger. But if you stop smoking, the risk of cancer falls each year as abnormal cells are replaced by normal cells. In ten years, the risks decreases to a level that is 30 to 50 percent of the risk for people who continue to smoke. That's why it's important for young people to never start smoking.
WHAT SMOKING DOES TO YOUR LUNGS Cigarette smoke contains many dangerous chemicals. Carbon monoxide robs your blood of oxygen and may encourage build-up of deposits in your arteries. Nicotine is an addictive agent. Tar contains cancer causing chemicals which tend to build up in lung tissue.
The Healthy Lung The air we inhale enters the lungs through tubes called bronchi. These branch into the smaller brochioles and finally into tiny air sacs, the aveoli. The average lung has more that 300 million of these air sacs, which provides a combined area of more than 750 square feet for oxygen to be absorbed into the bloodstream and carbon dioxide to be expelled. To some extent our breathing apparatus can can clean itself. Mucus produced by some cells in the bronchi traps unfamiliar material, and

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