The Costs of Cigarette Smoking
Cigarette smoking causes a variety of life threatening diseases, including lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. In the UK about 120,000 people die each year due to smoking. A half of all smokers die from smoking related diseases.0
There are many ingredients in tobacco smoke which are harmful to our health in different ways.1
Some of the ingredients are tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine and other chemicals and additives such as ammonia, arsenic (a poison used in insecticides and weed killers), benzene, hydrogen cyanide and many other.2
Tar deposits on the lungs can cause lung diseases. Carbon monoxide and other chemicals reduces the oxygen carrying
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Emphysema is an irreversible lung disease associated with chronic bronchitis and excessive coughing.11 In emphysema, the air sacs in the lungs are enlarged and damaged.12 This reduces the surface area of the lung available for exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Severe emphysema causes breathlessness which is made worse by infections. It is estimated that smoking is associated with 75% of deaths from emphysema.13
The chemicals in tobacco can damage the lining of the blood vessels.14 This helps in the build up of fatty material along the inner lining o the arteries, this is known as Atheroma (sometimes called 'hardening' or 'furring' of the arteries).15 Atheroma is the main cause of heart disease, it is also a cause stroke due to damage to the brain arteries.16 Atheroma in the blood vessels of the penis causes impotence in man.17 Smoking also increases the blood pressure and it decreases the amount of oxygen carried by the red blood cells.18 Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke combines with the haemoglobin to form carboxyhaemoglobin which is a non reversible reaction and this reduces they oxygen carrying capacity of the red blood cells.
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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.
Smoking can bring about lung infection by harming your airways routes and the little air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs. Smoking can bring about lethal infections, for example, pneumonia, lung growth and emphysema. Additionally smoking causes 83% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and smoking causes 84% of deaths from lung cancer (NHS , 2017) . However, there is a considerable measure of terrible illnesses connected to smoking cigarettes. Illnesses like throat malignancy, mouth tumour, bladder growth, lung growth, constant bronchitis, emphysema, and coronary illness are altogether brought about by smoking. Also smoking is addictive. Nicotine is the addictive substance
With tobacco smoke containing nearly 10,000 compounds and chemicals, hundreds of which are toxic, smoking puts an individual at risk for numerous illnesses and conditions. Smoking causes one out of three cancer deaths in the U.S. and according to Mayo Clinic, every year, lung cancer kills more Americans than breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers do combined. Smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in the U.S.
In the United States today, more than forty six million Americans are addicted to cigarettes. More people have died due to cigarette smoking than from narcotic drugs, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War combined (Bailey 1). The annual death toll for cigarette smoking is more than four-hundred thousand Americans a year, and is the number-one preventable cause of death in the United States. If Americans are aware of the lethal effects of smoking, why is it still so popular? Guy Smith, a Phillip Morris Tobacco Company executive, claims that their research shows that advertising is the top reason people start smoking (Bailey 34). Most people will argue that this is not true because the do not like to be “sold” and
Tobacco smoking is responsible for nearly all cases of a chronic breathing obstruction known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD includes diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and leaves sufferers breathless and unable to do many activities. Lung cancer is the disease of the smoker, with 90% of primary lung cancers caused by smoking. Nearly one in four smokers who die prematurely will die of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the UK. Your lungs are damaged not only by the number of cigarettes you smoke a day, but more importantly by the number of years you have been a smoker. So,
Smoking is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. The exposure to tobacco smoking negatively impacts the health of an individual over time by increasing the risks of developing diseases of the respiratory and circulatory systems (Ministry of Health, 2005). In particular, smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. With repeated exposure, inhalation of tobacco into the lungs causes a build up of tar, altering lung tissue (Cockerham, 2007; Marmot and Wilkinson, 2006). This direct use of tobacco accounts for the death of 5 million people around the world. In the United States, 444,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking, were 13 years of life lost for a male smoker and 14.5 years lost for a female (Cockerham, 2007; WHO, 2012). In New Zealand, tobacco use is the main cause of preventable death, contributing to around 4600 deaths
Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body, causing many diseases, and reducing the overall health of an individual (Lidia Arcavi & Neal L. Benowitz, 2004). The effects of smoking start out in the respiratory system where smoke irritates the trachea and larynx which leads to reduced lung function and breathlessness due to swelling and narrowing of the lung airways, and also leads to excess mucus in the lung passages. The excess mucus causes impairment of the lungs' clearance system leading to the build-up of poisonous substances which results in lung irritation and damage, increased risk of lung infection, symptoms such as coughing and wheezing, and permanent damage to the air sacs of the lungs (Lidia Arcavi & Neal L. Benowitz, 2004).
In the United States, when a disease is rapid, many steps are taken to reduce causes and find cures for the disease; walks, fundraisers, commercials and research are held by those that are committed to assist in the elimination of these diseases and the treatment of the sick. The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic respiratory disease. The most deadly origin of disease is cigarette smoking. A cigarette contains many harmful chemicals that damage the smokers’ body as well as the people that surround the smoker. Its negative impacts regarding health carry more burdens than what some may say is the “positive” social outcome of smoking. Tobacco was originally used as a heavy sedative
In this crowded world, everything that we eat and touch are already too dirty and contain chemicals so, why we should not smoke cigarettes? They contain chemicals like the others, do not they? Actually they are different because you can wash your hands after touch money or you can wash your fruit before eat. There are many options for avoiding other chemicals but you can not get rid of harms of cigarette easily so it is more dangerous. However it is never impossible to quit. There are many ways to overcome cigarette
Tobacco use is by far the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2011). More deaths can be attributed to tobacco use than to alcohol, drugs, firearms, motor vehicle crashes, and HIV/AIDS combined (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). In the United States, 90% of lung cancer cases were from smoking cigarettes and 38,000 deaths per year are from secondhand
Cigarette smoking harms almost every organ in the human body. Smoking cigarettes leads to heart disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer. As of today, the United States has about 440,000 deaths per year from people smoking cigarettes. This is nearly one in five deaths. It causes more deaths than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS), use of drugs and alcohol, bicycle, motorcycle, car, gun, bus, train, ship, aircraft, or spacecraft accidents. Smoking causes nine out of ten of all lung cancer deaths. Smoking causes eight out of ten of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Tobacco addiction comes from nicotine, which reacts with organs and cells in the brain and body. Women who are exposed to cigarette smoke while pregnant risk having their child suffer from long term effects of tobacco. Indirect contact with smoke can also cause these health
Breathing tobacco smoke can even change your blood chemistry and damage your blood vessels. As you inhale smoke, cells that line your body’s blood vessels react to its chemicals.
The effects of smoking have been the ongoing cause of numerous health problems in America. While this may be considered common knowledge for most people today, for many generations before us, the effects of smoking were virtually nonexistent in the minds of common citizens. Even once they were discovered, the consequences of smoking were constantly brushed under the rug by tobacco companies in fear that if people became aware, their companies would lose business. In effort to end the lack of awareness within society, the FDA launched a campaign to expose the “#Real Cost” of smoking cigarettes. This campaign includes a series of powerful advertisements calling attention to the endless list detrimental side effects caused by tobacco.
The large particles in cigarette smoke, commonly known as “tar”, collect in the branching points of the lungs. The tar contains carcinogenic compounds that increase the risk of lung cancer. The small particles in cigarette smoke, including carcinogens, irritants, and corrosive chemicals, collect in the small air sacs in the lungs and damage them. These air sacs are where the blood absorbs oxygen from the air. When the small particles from the cigarette smoke are absorbed into the blood
Cigarette smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than non-smokers, and tobacco use doubles risk for stroke. It also causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels, and it causes premature wrinkles because it constricts the oxygen and warmth from all parts of the body so the skin ages faster.