The Poisoning 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

Smoking is an activity that has been around for many years for people to use and adapt into their lifestyle. It is a tool that many people use to help reduce the stresses of life and put them in a comfortable position that enables them to cope with the hectic lifestyle they are living. However, smoking has been scientifically proven to cause many types of cancer, the most common being lung cancer resulting in numerous deaths across the United States. According to BBC, "Smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease" (BBC, 2). Evidently, the benefits and drawbacks of smoking have been debated for many years, and only recently have some countries have placed a ban in public places such as Britain and the United

There are approximately 4,000-7,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Chemicals included are: nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, acetone, benzene, butane, Cadmium and DDT. The chemicals previously listed are typically found within nail polish remover, hair dye, rat poison, rubber cement, active ingredients in battery acid, embalming fluid, and materials for paving roads. Forty-three of the chemicals within a cigarette are known cancer-causing compounds, and over 400 other toxins. In addition, depending on the type of cigarette that is smoked, the effects could be even more harmful to one’s body by containing more additives and chemicals than others (Kleinman, L., M.D., & D. M., M.P.H., 2016).

Consumption of Tobacco is a worldwide phenomenon. Nearly every country is planning to raise more restrictions around the consumption of Tobacco. The awareness about its ill effects is rising through the corridors of Parliaments of many countries with the help of governmental and non-governmental organizations. There are some internationally recognized organizations like the “World Lung Foundations” that are striving hard to reduce the consumption of tobacco to a bare minimum. There are numerous reasons that support the argument that tobacco should be completely banned from the United Sates.

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 year alone cigarettes will end up killing over 500,000 Americans, and many more will suffer from different types of cancer, circulatory, and respiratory system diseases, due to smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes have been known to cause these illnesses for a long time. The FDA has proven that nicotine, one of the main chemicals in cigarettes, is addictive. This explains why smokers continue to use cigarettes even though they are aware of the health dangers that come from smoking cigarettes. Researchers have also found out that when people smoke by pregnant women it causes the deaths of over 4,000 babies and 110,000 miscarriages. The only way to prevent death by cigarettes would be to ban them.

(“Nicotine and Tobacco: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia”) Users of nicotine will experience withdrawal symptoms two to three hours after the last time they smoked such as anxiety, depression, headaches, and drowsiness, difficulty sleeping, restless or frustration, making quitting this deadly drug extremely difficult. Other than nicotine there are over four thousand chemicals in cigarettes and more than sixty nine of these known chemicals are carcinogen. (“What’s in a Cigarette.”) Disgusting and extremely dangers chemicals are found in tobacco and cigarettes such as carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that decreases the quantity of oxygen taken up by a individual's red blood cells, hydrogen cyanide, the poison used in gas chambers to kill soldiers during World War ll, cadmium, used in car batteries, butane, lighter fluid and tar, a brown and thick liquid that paralyses the cilia in the lungs. (“What's in cigarette smoke?”) If cigarettes were not accessible to the public, the addiction would not occur and the problems the thousands of life threating chemicals found in cigarettes would end.

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.

The negative health effects of tobacco use have been well established. Tobacco use has been shown to cause acute and chronic respiratory disease, heart disease, many types of cancer, and is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States, causing an estimated 443,000 deaths per year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2004). As the dangers of smoking have become better understood, reducing the number of people who smoke has become a major focus for those interested in public health. Efforts to restrict the advertisement and sale of tobacco, implement public smoking bans, and educate citizens through public service announcements have all had a sizeable effect on smoking rates in the U.S. In Fact, over

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

Although one cigarette may look small, a cigarette contains over 4,000 chemicals with about 43 chemicals that can contribute to cancer. Nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and much more. All cigarettes contain nicotine, which is the ingredient that makes the user addicted. However, this chemical also constricts blood vessels and increase the blood pressure, which can lead to many other symptoms. Smokers will feel calmer when nicotine reaches their bloodstream. Tar is the main chemical in cigarettes that cause lung/throat cancer. Also, tar is the chemical that makes your teeth yellow unnaturally. Carbon monoxide is the chemical that restrains the blood to move the oxygen

There are over 1.1 billion smokers in the world-- fifteen percent of the entire population. It is said that one in every three adults is a chronic smoker. Even in America, one of the most progressive countries in the world, forty-two million (about 12.5%) people smoke chronically. Given this astonishing number, it is no surprise that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, responsible for one in every five deaths. Only to add to that, more than 16 million Americans live with a smoking related disease. Since the 1960’s the United States government has attempted to curb these numbers as much as possible; from settling cases in the supreme court to passing new laws and regulations to counter the use of tobacco,

What is in a cigarette? Cigarettes contain about 600 ingredients, and once they are burned they create more than 7000 chemicals. Some of the chemicals are poisonous and about 70 of them are known to cause cancer. Many of the chemicals can be found in consumer products and household items. Acetone is found in nail polish, ammonia a common household cleaner, benzene an ingredient in rubber cement and formaldehyde which is embalming fluid are just a few chemicals in tobacco smoke. Though all the chemicals used to make cigarettes come with warning labels about the dangers of the product, there is no warning label for the toxins in tobacco smoke on a cigarette pack. However, the most addictive ingredient in cigarettes is nicotine.

Additives, some of them can be classed as toxic and are not allowed in food. When lit, a cigarette can reach nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit; this helps release 1000's of chemical compounds such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, at least 43 carcinogens and numerous mutagens. These are inhaled into the smoker’s body. The main danger of smoking is nicotine. Nicotine is addictive. It can raise heart rate and blood pressure.