Smoking cigarette may although appear as an attractive practice trying to captivate the interest of a lot of people particularly the youth, but is the practice actually that attractive to be allowed to play with the health of a person? Does smoking cigarette have no ill effects on the health of an individual? Surely is does have, rather a lot of them! The most adverse effect that a cigarette can have on an individual’s health is lung cancer, which if not treated within the right time period even possesses the power to become a fatal disease. Lung cancer and cigarette smoking share a very strong bond with about 80-90% of lung cancers being a by-product of cigarette smoking. (‘Causes of Lung’) The relationship they bear is more of a cause and effect kind of relationship with cancers being a definite outcome of the smoking. The risk involved with the lung cancer augments with the number of cigarettes one smokes over the period of time. In other words the more the number of cigarettes one smokes the more he/she is vulnerable to lung cancer. Doctors often illustrate the risk involved in terms of pack-years of one’s smoking history. Pack years can be elaborated as the number of cigarettes packs a person smokes each day multiplied by the number of years he smoked. (‘Causes of Lung’) Diving further into the specification, the study reveals that 10 pack-year smoking history is a figure strong enough to make one exposed to the vulnerability of the lung cancer. The research proves that the people who indulge in smoking more than two cigarette packs each day are in high susceptibility zone of death due to lung cancer. (‘Causes of Lung’) However these facts are just a formal deadline and do not necessarily depict that people smoking less comparatively are not exposed to the threat of lung cancer. Smoking itself acts as catalyst increasing the chances of cancer with each cigarette one smokes.
The smoke that a cigarette expels contains harmful chemicals which affect both smokers as well as the non-smokers. Even the non-smokers can fall in trap of many fatal diseases such as cancer due to the smoke of the cigarette. A non-smoker getting indulged in passive smoking by inhalation of smoke of cigarette from other smokers is too in the risk zone establishing favourable environment for lung cancer to develop. Research has further revealed that the non-smokers residing with a smoker get exposed to a shocking 24% increase in risk, for development of lung cancer as compared to a living in a normal non-smoking condition. About 3,000 deaths due to lung cancer are estimated to occur every year in the U.S. which is mainly attributable to passive smoking. Even a little smoke of tobacco when inhaled leads to a lot of harmful chemical entering the body of the inhaler through the respiratory tract. The tobacco smoke is known to contain many harmful chemicals including, carbon monoxide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. These when inhaled may even act as a poison playing the role of a murderer stealing many innocent lives. (‘Harms of Smoking’) Further, the smoke contains over 4,000 cancer-causing chemical compounds, the two most dangerous one being polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrosamines. (‘Causes of Lung’) Appallingly cigarette carries at least 69 cancer causing chemicals like Arsenic, Benzene, Beryllium and many more. (‘Harms of Smoking’)
Moreover smoking leaves its adverse effects to almost every organ of the human body and drastically diminish the overall health of a person. Millions of Americans have health problems caused by smoking. The types of cancer it may lead to includes lung cancer, esophagus cancer, larynx cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, pancreas cancer, and even stomach cancer. Smoking is also involved with heart disease, asthma, cataracts and hip fractures. Smokers face a great risk of developing many airway infections such as pneumonia. (‘Harms of Smoking’) Further, a pregnant women if indulges in the practice of smoking, along with exposing herself to diseases like lung cancer nurtures very strong chance of her child being born with the defect and a way too less immunity. The concept turns even more shocking when the facts are brought in the picture. Data reveals that smoking cigarette as well as being exposed to the smoke of tobacco results in about 440,000 premature deaths every year in the United States. (‘Harms of Smoking’) And the reality turns even more appalling with the fact that majority of these deaths are a result of cancer. This in turn strengthens the stand taken in the beginning of the passage regarding the smoking causing lung cancer.
However, cigar smoking and pipe smoking can also lead to lung cancer. Nevertheless, cigarettes still hold the most superior position as compared to its companions in exposing an individual to lung cancer. The person who smokes a pack of cigarettes every day has about 25 times more risk as compared to a non-smoker. Cigar and Pipe smokers on the other hand have about five times risk as compared to a non-smoker. The smoking damages the cell so drastically that its ability to recover diminishes with the passage of time. Many doctors illustrate that lung cancer as a result of smoking is mainly due to the damage it does to the cells that line the lungs. As soon as one inhales the smoke of the cigarette full of carcinogens which are cancer-causing substance, the lung tissue begins to show changes immediately. Initially the body due to a certain degree of immunity it carries may be able to repair the damage caused by the smoke. But as the smoking develops as a habit, each repeated exposure increasingly damages the normal cells that line your lungs. Over the passage of time, such damage caused by the smoke compels the cells of the lungs to behave abnormally and eventually it results into a cancer being developed. (‘Lung cancer Causes’)
Lung cancer is further divide into two broad categories based on the appearance that a lung cancer cells exhibits. Interestingly both the types of lung cancer are a result of smoking. Small cell lung cancer being the first one occurs exclusively in heavy smokers and is the less common one of the two. Non-small cell lung cancer on the other hand is most common one and becomes prevalent even in the non- heavy smokers. (‘Lung cancer Causes’)
Moreover, smoking due to highly addictive nature that it possesses compels the smoker to opt for the practice again and again. A drug called Nicotine is present naturally in the plant of tobacco. Nicotine is primary cause of cigarette smoking being an addictive practice. While a person smokes, nicotine makes its way through the lungs of the individual and gest quickly absorbed in the bloodstreams which further carry them to the brain in a few seconds. The addiction caused by Nicotine through smoking a cigarette is similar to the addiction produced when a person uses drugs such u as cocaine and heroin. (‘Harms of Smoking’) A group of pro smoking individuals try to justify the smoking practice with reasons quoting those people who instead of not involving in any kind of tobacco consumption are victimised with the fatal disease of lung cancer. The group in favour of smoking try to protect the practice stating that when the ones not consuming are also becoming vulnerable to cancer attacks then what is the point in quitting cigarette smoking in the wake of the lung cancer. The point may appear to be valid logically for the smokers, but actually it is the most absurd one. May be some people become the victim of lung cancer without having being involved in smoking but the point to be noted is that smoker are at a very high risk of lung cancer as compared to the non-smokers. Such vague reasons by the smokers are surely not strong enough to overshadow the gloomy image of cigarettes. Surrendering oneself to death can never be a justifiable option.
Work Cited
Mayoclinic.org,. 'Lung Cancer Causes - Diseases And Conditions - Mayo Clinic'. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
National Cancer Institute,. 'Harms Of Smoking And Health Benefits Of Quitting'. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Webmd.com,. 'Causes Of Lung Cancer: Smoking, Asbestos, And More'. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
