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Essay on Smoking; Who Does it Really Affect?

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Secondhand smoke is extremely hazardous. It can cause death and dangerous health defects. Therefore, smoking is not only bad for the smoker, but for people around him or her too. However, there are only few laws that restrict public smoking. More legislation on smoking restrictions is needed because secondhand smoke causes asthma attacks in children, heart disease in adults, and sudden infant death syndrome in babies.
These health problems are a result of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. According to the National Cancer Institute, Beryllium, Butadiene, Chromium, Nickel, and Polonium are just a few of the 69 deadly chemicals that can cause cancer. The Office of the Surgeon General has proven that when inhaled, the same cancer-causing …show more content…

Because of secondhand smoke, about 3,000 adults who do not smoke die of lung cancer each year. Research even proves that secondhand smoke possibly heightens the chances of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, and nasopharyngeal cancer in grownups [National Cancer Institute]. Also, the chances of leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors in adolescents are heightened. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Toxicology Program, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have all classifies secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen. Carcinogens are the causes of cancer. Adolescents subject to secondhand smoke have also have heightened chances of sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, and extreme asthma [National Institutes of Health]. Besides those health effects, another concerning matter of secondhand smoke is heart disease. The American Heart Associations prove that although most people believe that smoking only affects your lungs, being subject to secondhand smoke practically doubled the chances of a heart attack. “Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damages the lining of blood vessels, and decrease coronary flow velocity reserves. These are all mechanisms that may increase the risk of a heart attack” [American Heart Association]. People who do not smoke and are around smoke at home or at work heighten

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