The Dangers Of Tobacco Use In The United States

Tobacco smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and diseases in the United States of America. Close to 480,000 Americans lose their life each year due to illness caused by smoking cigarette. (Healthy People 2020, 2010).

Regardless of consumer belief, smoking dramatically increases the chances of contracting many diseases - such as heart disease or high blood pressure. Although not every user experiences these diseases, it is well known that smoking can decrease one’s life time dramatically. The information given states, “It’s virtually impossible to escape the effects of tobacco” (Jordan). This stated, Jordan expresses that essentially if you use tobacco, there is a fairly high chance that one will damage his/her body in some way. Furthermore, there are many more diseases that can be contracted and the ones stated are only the most common. Continuing, the author explains the affects of smoking, “Expose to specific elements of secondhand smoke causes blood clot more easily and damages arterial lining” (Jordan). As stated, certain components in tobacco increase the chances of high blood pressure and blood clots to form in the body. Concluding, respiratory problems in young children can occur through second hand smoking, these include asthma. Children that asthma effect increases from smoke, “Asthma turns out to be about twice as common in children exposed to high levels of second hand smoke” (Secondhand Smoke: Is it a Hazard). Not only does tobacco smoke increase other diseases, it also increases the severity of diseases already contracted as shown in the previous quote. To conclude, tobacco smoke

With such an expansive history in Connecticut, the subject of tobacco is just as encompassing. With roots in Windsor colonial history through its height in the 1950s, sources try to capture it all at a surface level. Scholars have studied tobacco over time evaluating its role in the community at that moment in time. Over a variety of sources, overall the response to tobacco in Windsor has been positive as it serves as both an economic influence and a cultural one as well. Starting at one of the most recent sources, Brianna Dunlap looks at the entire Connecticut River valley as the backdrop as Connecticut’s tobacco industry in Connecticut Valley Tobacco. Published in 2016, Dunlap captures tobacco’s history starting at its roots in the 1600s through Cuba’s reopening trade ports in 2015. This book serves to establish Windsor’s connection with tobacco and how it changed over time to match the changing landscape around the tobacco sheds.

Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. According to the American Lung Association in 2009, 20.6% of adults were current smokers. In 1970, the United States banned television and radio advertisements of cigarettes. Across the world countries battle similar issues in how to help prevent deaths, lower healthcare costs, and educate the population. Countries have banned advertising, posted health causes, renamed brands, and even included informational fliers in packs of cigarettes. In 2001, The Government of India decided to ban the advertising of cigarettes. This ban was created to help the youth of India and hoped to reduce the amount of future smokers. The proposal of this restriction caused debates between the government, advertising companies, and tobacco manufacturers. The supporting and dismantling arguments for these ethical and commercial causes of the ban have enabled the government to make their final decision.

In the lifetime of most, cigarette smoking is common occurrence noticed as you go throughout your community. In the medical setting, hospital professions see the disabling effects caused by smoking. Being a change agent in your society is necessary for enhancing the well-being of others through each community. Healthy People 2020 creates a goal to “reduce illness, disability, and death related to tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure” (2017) Seeing the effects of smoking in the medical setting it motivates professionals to educate our patients’ on smoking cessation. For the topic of this research, our group was motivated by understanding how well our education paid off and whether we were able to find more control in smoking

“Loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.” says King James of England and Scotland, describing smoking in 1604 (Connolly 13). Tobacco use kills millions of people a year but still only has few legal restrictions. Many argue that the use of tobacco is a right we have in the United States but the harm that it does to the innocent may outweigh those rights. Because the use of tobacco negatively impacts the health of both the users and those around them, all tobacco products and their use should be illegal.

Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, killing more Americans than HIV, drug and alcohol abuse, suicides, murders and car accidents combined. There are numerous campaigns such as D.A.R.E. and “Swipe Left” to help persuade us out of using tobacco products. Sayings like “Not even once” have even become cliché. However, studies have shown that one cigarette is all it takes to get addicted. Despite popular belief, smokeless tobacco is addictive as well. Big tobacco companies are famous for telling lies. In 1996, the tobacco industry said it was riskier to drink two cups of milk a day than one cigarette. They also said cigarettes were just as addictive as salt, sugar and internet usage. Neither of these are true, as it is the most addictive of all legal drugs. That being said, cigarettes are only the tip of the iceberg to the major problems that tobacco causes. Tobacco products have an astonishing amount of cons, to accompany very few, petty pros like “it makes me feel better for a few minutes.” Not only do cigarettes hurt the smoker, but they hurt the ones closely surrounding the smoker, especially small children. There are also a great deal of unexpected environmental issues that come with tobacco products and its industry, such as deforestation, greenhouse gasses, and fires. Because of these destructive reasons, we propose that all tobacco products should be illegal.

A study was conducted and the outcome showed that billions of dollars are lost on productivity by Americans due to tobacco effect. The study also reported that tobacco is the prominent preventable cause of diseases and premature death. Some of the illnesses associated with smoking include cancer,

According to the NRDC, nearly 18,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease were caused by active smoking in 1990. Smoking a single cigarette can damage blood flow to your heart for people with a pre-existing coronary artery disease. Cigarette smoking has been found to be the leading cause of pulmonary illness and death in the US. In 1990, smoking cause more than 84,000 deaths anywhere from lung disease, such as pneumonia, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.

Tobacco smoking in any form constitutes a major risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension (HTN), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), oral, nasopharyngeal, bronchial and other visceral malignancies6 . Smoking 1-4 cigarettes per day significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease7. Smoking also increases the risk of thrombosis8 (8). Smokers are 3 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than the non smokers. Smokeless tobacco users have a higher incidence of diabetes

Tobacco is the primary source of unnecessary sickness and death in the United States. Tobacco is the foundation that creates illness including emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease, pregnancy problems, and many other health difficulties. 16 million people have at least one disease caused by smoking. 20 million Americans have died because of smoking since 1964, including approximately 2.5 million deaths are caused by the exposure of secondhand smoke. These number shows that smoking is causing more unnecessary deaths and illness and slowly we need to remove smoking from distribution. (Tobaccos facts and figures) Studies have indicated that people who smoke are more likely to drink alcohol, and vice versa the odds of creating

Many will argue tobacco use is unhealthy and can cause long-term health related issues such as various forms of cancer, asthma, lung failure and or heart disease – the number one cause of death in the America. Although these claims may be factual, others, however, argue

More than 480,000 people smoke every day and over 16 million people suffer from smoking related illnesses. For every dead smoker, at least thirty people live with a smoking related illness. Worldwide, tobacco use causes nearly six million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than eight million deaths annually by the year 2030. On average, smokers dies ten years earlier than nonsmokers and if smoking continue at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every thirteen Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.

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.

Tobacco products are made up of over four thousand dangerous chemicals including about two-hundred and fifty known chemicals (Braithwaite, Taylor,&Treadwell, 2009). According to the Center for Disease Control and prevention (1999) tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death and disease in America. On average, smokers die thirteen to fourteen years quicker than people who don’t smoke (Braithwaite et al. 2009). In the United Stated over twenty percent of deaths are from tobacco use. Additionally, over six-hundred thousand people die from secondhand smoke each year with one third being children(Action on smoking and health). Illnesses connected with tobacco use are cancer (bladder,esophagus,lung,mouth,throat), chronic lung and cardiovascular disease and reproductive problems (Braithwaite et al. 2009). The CDC reports show that there is an increase in “some day smokers,” nationwide. “Some day smokers” are smokers who report that they smoke only on some days. Research states that 24.0% of the adult population are “some day smokers.” For ages 18-24 year olds 28.7% are “some day smokers.” 18-24 year olds are at higher risk of being “some day smokers” than any other age group. When these statistics are broken down by education level, it shows that adults with a college education reported the highest currency of someday smoking (31.7%) (CDC, 4/2003).