Social Effects Of Smoking

According to “The Action of Smoking and Health,” every six seconds someone loses their life as a result of a tobacco related disease. It’s hard to realize how damaging cigarette smoking’s effect can be until you experience it first hand. It is almost certain that every one knows someone who is currently a smoker or was a smoker at some point in their life. For years smoking was the seen as the “cool” thing to do, it was how to “fit in.” There was no real emphasis placed on the dangers of this particular habit, and as a result, it became a world wide trend. In the past, technology and medicine were not nearly advanced enough to be able to determine just how harmful tobacco usage is. However, as we have made medical and

Tobacco is a green seventeen leave plant that grows natively throughout North and South America. It’s related the potato, peppers, and the poisonous nightshade. One ounce of tobacco contains about 300,000 seeds! The Americans started to grow Tobacco during 6,000 B.C. In the early 1 B.C the American Indians started using tobacco in religious and medical practices. People us to believe that tobacco cured-all of their problems. It was used as dress wounds, pain killer, and chewing tobacco solved toothache. In October 15, 1492 the American Indians gave Christopher Columbus dried tobacco as a welcome gift. After Christopher Columbus left, he brought back tobacco to Europe; which then grew all over Europe. The reason tobacco was grown so much was because it was believed to have healing properties; that could cure anything from ripe breath to cancer. In 1571 a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes wrote a book on medicinal plants and that tobacco could cure 36 health problems. In 1588 Thomas Harriet thought smoking a dose a day was a good idea. In the 1600’s tobacco was “as good as gold,” it was mostly used as money. During that time some people realized the dangerous effects of smoking. In 1610 Sir Francis Bacon tried to quit, but said it was really hard. Meanwhile in 1632, 12 years after the Mayflower had arrived at Plymouth Rock, smoking became illegal in the state of Massachusetts! In 1760, a New York company named Pierre Lorillard produced tobacco, cigars, and

Tobacco has been around in the world for over 2.5 million years. It was not until a few hundred years ago when the tobacco industry decided to put these crops into use and conjure up tobacco products for the community. A popular tobacco product in society is cigarettes, as they are cheap and simple to use. As long as one is over eighteen, acquiring cigarettes is a straightforward process for a reasonable price, albeit the sin tax. It was not until recently when cigarettes became widely controversial due to the plant containing nicotine, an addictive drug to the body. Aside from containing nicotine and other hazardous chemicals to the body, cigarettes also cause a whole host of health implications

Although it remains a large portion of the U.S’ economy, tobacco smoking can lead to a variety of diseases and disorders that affect the user. The effects of smoking tobacco not only affect the user but surrounding people as well: permanently destroying their lungs and children, increasing the chances of diseases and of cancer.

Tobacco came about in the 1400’s, when Christopher Columbus was gifted with a small dried tobacco leaves from the American Indians that he encountered on the small island of San Salvador. Back then, men used tobacco as “drink smoke” and “tobacco drinking”. During 1559, the year historians mark as the year tobacco was officially introduced to Europe, the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, presented some tobacco plants acquired in the New World, and from then tobacco was here to stay.

Tobacco, Smokes, Cancer Sticks, Chew, Dip, whatever you want to call it, has been poisoning the innards of individuals since the days of the prehistoric Mayas of Mexico at around 600 to 900 A.D. This tobacco craze would resume in the society of the American Indians and later to the European settlers. In the early seventeenth century, tobacco was the chief cash crop of America’s first colony, Jamestown Virginia. This crop would continue to flourish in throughout history. By the early 1900’s, The American Tobacco Company was the leading and most influential tobacco corporation. The game completely changed at the time of the two World Wars however. Soldiers began receiving free cigarettes and the industry began targeting women as potential costumers as they were gaining new rights and liberties in society at this time. In 1964, the cigarette empire began to see its decline when the Surgeon General of the U.S. wrote a report about the dangers of cigarette smoking. After this statement by “America’s doctor”, legislation did everything in their power to detour people form purchasing these harmful products. They have gone as far as to make tobacco companies label “caution” on their products. Tobacco companies have recently been having trouble selling their

Many drugs are used, misused, and abused in American society today. Some of these carry stigma in the general population, forcing users into an underground drug subculture. Others are accepted and almost promoted under certain circumstances. Tobacco is one of those drugs. Tobacco will be discussed in the context of cigarette smoking. This is not to undermine the existence or danger of other forms of tobacco, but instead to have an exhaustive discussion of cigarette smoking and its societal impact. Cigarettes are a means of inhaling tobacco, where it enters the lungs and is absorbed through the blood vessels, traveling to the heart, from which it is finally pumped to the brain (Hogan, Gabrielsen, Luna, and Grothaus 2003:76). Cigarettes are detrimental to society because they not only affect the user who chooses to smoke; they impact people around them through second-hand and residual smoke. The damage done by cigarettes is not impossible to address. Successful prevention measures are already in place, but this paper intends to suggest other more direct measures, especially related to statutory regulations.

This essay will answer this question by featuring an exploration of the motivational psychological and sociological influences on the perpetuation, maintenance and cessation of smoking, primarily focusing on the application of the Health Belief Model (HBM) to smoking, briefly discussing the roles personality and self-efficacy play in influencing individuals’ attitudes towards smoking. The sociological aspect of this essay will examine how social factors impact individuals’ smoking behaviour, emphasising the role of gender, with reference to the Social–Learning Theory (SLT).

1. Historical background to Tobacco – Early American Indians – Columbus – Introduction to the Western World.

On 2nd November 1492, Christopher Columbus, the captain of the Santa Maria, came across the island of Cuba. Columbus sent two men in a small boat to explore the island. When they arrived back they told the strange story of people with burning sticks in their mouths (Simkin, 1997). During the next few years, European explorers discovered that people all over America smoked tobacco. These Indians believed that chewing or smoking tobacco protected them from a variety of different diseases. Some European explorers, frightened that they might catch these local diseases, also began to smoke tobacco. When these men went home they took large supplies of tobacco with them (Simkin, 1997). In 1940 the Tobacco industry figures showed that more than half

Tobacco has been one of the biggest staples of America throughout history and culture. It acted as a saviour and a basis to the economies of the new world (colonies in North America). However, health concerns have also revealed the looming dangers of tobacco.Even though the adverse effects of smoking are common knowledge, the threat still lingers. Smoking is a habit that builds on itself in regarding negative effects. These negative effects affect anybody. I lost my aunt to lung cancer via cigarettes. Tobacco is not just harmless recreational fun; it is a poison hiding in our culture. Recently, The New York Times reported that The United States Chamber of Commerce has helped tobacco companies who intend to strike down laws constricting the expansion to foreign territory. Jon maa who is a general surgeon denounces this disturbing agreement in concern of health and sleazy monetary gains by the tobacco corporations.

Despite the warnings given by doctors about the ill-effects of smoking, people continue to smoke. Smokers are addicted to it, and even if they want to, they cannot refrain from picking up a cigar or cigarette and puffing away. Some youngsters smoke for the sake of society and some feel that would make them appear liberated and broadminded.

Tobacco has a long history in the Americas and date back to somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Native American Indians smoked tobacco through a pipe only for religious and medical purposes. Following, European’s immigration to North America, tobacco was rapidly spread around the globe (Jacobs, 1997) due to addictive properties of the chemical, Nicotine present in plant Nicotina tobacum (Boffetta et al., 2008). Only the mode of delivery has changed. In the eighteenth century, snuff was prominent; the nineteenth century was the age of the cigar; the twentieth century saw the rise of the manufactured cigarette, and with a greatly increased number of smokers. At the dawn of the twenty first century approximately one third of adults in the world,

These days it seems like almost everyone smokes. Many people start smoking because they are stressed, or they conform to the people around them.(Healthliteracy) Teens start smoking often to look older or cool to their friends.(Healthliteracy) Even though most people know smoking is bad for you, they continue to smoke anyways. Smoking can increase your risk of multiple cancers, cause chronic coughing, bad breath, and stain your teeth. All of these risks are well known and wildly expressed by doctors and commercials on TV and on the radio.

Tobacco products have been used for chewing and smoking in the North American continent for over a thousand years. Tobacco products have been a part of United Stated history since its colonization. However, although tobacco products have been used for centuries there have been studies done in more recent years that have linked tobacco products to widespread health problems. This has caused controversy in the world today on whether or not tobacco products should be banned in this country. There are many people in favor of keeping tobacco products in production due to monetary concerns. Conversely, there are many people very concerned with the health problems associated with tobacco products. Therefore, one must interpret for themselves if the production, sale, and use of tobacco products is something that is harmful to society and should be banned for its betterment, or something that is helpful to society and not worth getting rid of.