There is a widespread epidemic that is highly misunderstood in today’s society, and that is the use of cigarettes. Substances used in cigarettes cause many harmful ailments such as tooth decay, lung cancer, and heart disease. Nicotine, the stimulative chemical found in tobacco, creates a physical and physiological addiction that compels the frequent usage of the product - further allowing the destruction of numerous vital parts of the human anatomy. As a result, many people are diagnosed with fatal diseases and are condemned to a life of therapy or medicine with harmful side effects. Unsurprisingly, “Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including nearly 42,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day” (CDC). This harrowing statistic reveals just how much damage cigarette smoking causes on human lives. Another ramification that is often overlooked is the resulting negative impact on the economy. Billions of taxpayer dollars are used to mitigate the healthcare costs and environmental destruction caused by cigarettes. For these reasons, cigarettes are a plague to society that needs to be resolved. There are many ways in which we can fix this issue, such as raising awareness in schools about the dangers of cigarettes, taxation, and rehabilitation.
Tobacco, the main ingredient in cigarettes, is a plant that was used for spiritual ceremonies and
One of my first memories in the United States was taking a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) class. I was in sixth grade and a top student, as talking about drugs and alcohol and the way they affect us was fascinating to me. This is why, the following year, I volunteered to become a peer educator in Teens Against Tobacco Use (T.A.T.U). For a couple of years, I gave presentations to young students which included facts, demonstrations, and games, to spread the knowledge that tobacco is harmful and that staying away from smoking prolongs life expectancy and increases the quality of life. It should come as no surprise, then, that I consider myself a big proponent of staying tobacco-free and encouraging others to quit smoking as a great way to promote health. I remember watching my mom and sister as they took part in their nightly ritual of smoking a few cigarettes to unwind. “Did you know that a main component of cigarettes is used as rocket fuel?” I would ask them, as I opened the window and they stared back at me blankly. “We know, we know” was the answer every time. I knew that convincing them to quit was no easy task, but I was committed. Day after day, I proudly stated a new fact about the evils of smoking. Finally one day, they quit. At first, they attributed it to the cost. Since we had just immigrated to the United States, the cost of cigarettes was simply not something they could afford. I didn’t believe it. I proudly
Smoking is injurious to health and a preventable cause of premature death. In the U.S.; it is estimated that one in each five adults smoke currently and about 480,000 people die prematurely from diseases caused by smoking or secondhand smoke exposure. (CDC tobacco use). The economic burden of tobacco use is also significant. About $100 billion per year is spent in medical expenses and another $100 billion per year in lost productivity. There is no safe level of smoking
Smoking has resulted in over 20 million deaths since 1964. About 443,000 people die every year from smoking related illnesses and for every dead person, there are 20 people who grapple with one or more tobacco-related illnesses. The United States loses 193 billion USD annually in medical expenses and lost productivity. 17% of high school seniors are smokers, and one fifth of adult Americans continue to smoke. This paper aims to highlight the specific actions that have been taken by public health officials in the past and the path of action projected for the next decade.
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.
Just over a billion people worldwide indulge themselves with a legal substance that has proven too insidiously cause disease or death. Approximately six million people die each year from this legal drug and it is one of the worst threats to humanity worldwide (WHO, 2016). This drug is sold legally over the counter throughout many countries including the United States. The Surgeon General’s Warning, “smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and may complicate pregnancy” was labeled on the packaging of cigarette boxes in the 1980’s. Eventually, launching a national campaign for smoking cessation. Despite the many laws that inhibit the use of tobacco smoke, these products continue to be a legally obtainable substance in the US with devastating damage as a result of their use.
Cigarettes are the most important substance to address in the United States because they are not only extremely addictive, but they have the potential to cause a variety of serious health conditions and affect individuals who are close to and care for the user. Tobacco use poses a serious health threat especially among the young population of America and has significant implications for the nation’s public and economic health in the future. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the impact of cigarette smoking on the economy is huge. Seventy-five percent of American health care money spent is due to the effects of tobacco causing various chronic diseases. Such diseases include, diabetes, heart disease, cancers, congenital defects, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stroke, birth defects, etc. “Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduced the health of smokers in general” (CDC, 2015).
For years cigarettes have been known to cause cancer, emphysema, and other horrible illnesses. The deaths of over 420,000 Americans this year will be attributable to cigarettes. With some of the other causes of preventable deaths such as, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still account for more preventable deaths than those do combined, as stated by Lonnie Bristow M.D. of the American Medical Association at her speech to Indiana University. Some researchers have also found that smoking by pregnant women causes the deaths of over 5,000 babies and 115,000 miscarriages. The best way to get rid of the suffering and loss of life by cigarettes is to ban them. We can no longer stand aside and watch fellow Americans die because they smoke cigarettes. Thousands of smokers try to rid
Smoking one cigarette can throw away eleven minutes of your life. Add a hundred and thirty cigarettes and you have lost an entire day. Not only did you lose a fragment of your lifetime, but you additionally lost the opportunities that came along with it. Cigarettes, known as one of tobacco’s many forms, are being lit recklessly. People are carelessly draining their lifetime by inhaling these fatal products. Despite the fact that the usage of cigarettes is widely popular, cigarettes should be deemed illegal in the United States to prevent further damages on our health, environment, and population. Although cigarettes have immensely aided our economy, it would be best to abolish the usage of these harmful products.
The tobacco industry kills more people in North America from Monday to Thursday of each week than the terrorists murdered in total on September 11, 2001. That sounds unrealistic, doesn’t it? Well, smoking is an epidemic that affects us all, whether you are a smoker or you aren’t. In order to stop this epidemic, we need to
Nicotine use is a leading preventable cause of death in the world, directly and indirectly responsible for 440,000 deaths per year. The health problems that result in tobacco use tally an annual of $75 billion in direct medical costs (Slovic 36). That money spent on medical problems for smokers should be used to pay for more important things in our society such as schools, libraries, childcare, etc.
Tobacco products have been widely cultivated and utilized from as early as the mid sixteenth-century. Native Americans believed the plant to be an effective form of medicine. Many people adopted this belief, and there was thought to be very little to no harmful effects from the tobacco products.Throughout the years, modern medicine, science, and technology have been used to study the tobacco plant and more importantly, the deadly chemical nicotine which is used in almost every tobacco product that is distributed. It has been deduced that tobacco products are not an effective form of medicine, and are rather one of the largest preventable causes of death known to mankind. Tobacco products are both one of the most deadly, and
Smoking prevalence remains high across the global, national, and state levels. Among the world’s population, 22% of individuals aged 15 years and older were regular smokers in 2011 (WHO, 2016). High prevalence of smoking results in increased development of chronic diseases, resulting in one death every 6 seconds (WHO, 2016). In 2014 an estimated 40 million Americans smoked cigarettes regularly. Meanwhile, more than 16 million Americans suffer from a smoking-related diseases (CDC, 2015). According to Jamal et al. (2015), this results in more than $300 billion in direct health care expenditures and productivity losses each year.
Smoking is an uncouth habit, and it does not discriminate between tobacco cigarette, bhang or shisha, all of these substances are often considered as drugs that can cause addiction. The smoke emitted from these drugs cause environmental pollution. Besides, they also lead to some harmful diseases to humans (Hyyppä, 2010). Some chronic conditions like lung cancer emanate from smoking, and it predisposes the users to various life conditions like heart diseases. There exist two types of tobacco that are deeply rooted in this world.
The most unfortunate thing of our society is people are being judged by their drinking and smoking habit which should only be a choice of that person who is using it for whatever reason. Now if a woman smokes up, first of all her character would suddenly be misinterpreted, then if she drinks alcohol, it is almost catastrophic for her health according to the mentality and lack of knowledge of people in our society; not only that, in India smoking and drinking publically for women is a bizarre, it seems as she has made some crime. Of course smoking causes many diseases it’s a different issue but it can’t define woman’s personality or her nature.
Society has been faced with many social struggles since the beginning of time. Smoking cigarettes is just one of those many social challenges. Individuals who smoke cigarettes increase the risk of developing health issues. Advertising has decreased over the years but the investment is with those that started when advertising was a big deal. Finally, the chemicals put into cigarettes are designed to increase a person’s cravings for cigarettes making it harder to stop smoking. With all the billions of dollars spent on advertising and creating a friendly product, long term use causes negative effects on a person such as cancer.