The utilization of cigarettes is a major public health issue and is considered a harmful and highly addictive habit. Many different people smoke for various reasons, including to relieve stress because tobacco use can give the user pleasure and calmness. Smoking also harms the people around the smoker as they become passive smokers. Hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed daily with the effects of smoking, for example, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and deteriorated dental hygiene.
Tobacco use is an expensive affair, usually costing the average smoker about $5 a day, $35 a week, $140 a month, and approximately $1,825 every year. For every dollar spent on cigarettes, another extra dollar is lost in mitigation efforts, healthcare, work absenteeism, and funeral expenses. Each year, there is more than $25 billion spent on tobacco use and consequential effects. According to the CDC, smoking results in more than 480,000 deaths each year in the USA, more than 80% of all Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases, and more than 90% of all lung cancers in both men and women ("CDC - Fact Sheet - Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking - Smoking & Tobacco Use"). For direct smokers, smoking compromises the immune system and results in respiratory and autoimmune infections such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. It has also been linked to a 30%-40% higher risk of developing type two diabetes, with the risk being higher in people that smoke more cigarettes than individual smokes.
Studies have shown a relationship between tobacco use and osteoporosis, which is a condition that causes bones to weaken and susceptible to fracturing. The risk is higher in women smokers because it lowers estrogen levels in the body and subsequently induces early menopause. The chemicals present in tobacco harm the blood cells and disrupt the normal functioning of the heart. Such damages increase the risk of atherosclerosis (peripheral arterial disease) that clogs the arteries, aneurysms, which refers to bulging blood vessels, and cardiovascular diseases that include hypertension, coronary heart diseases, and heart attacks. Additionally, smoking can cause a stroke because it results in the sudden death of brain cells due to blood clots or bleeding. Every cigarette smoked causes COPD, pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. The chemicals contained in cigarettes are more than 4,000 and about 70 of them are responsible for causing cancer in the lungs, esophagus, trachea, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, larynx, colon, rectum, uterine cervix, pancreas, and kidney. These chemicals can also cause leukemia ("Health Effects of Smoking").
Other effects of smoking include age-related muscle degeneration, cataract, and optic nerve damage, all of which can result in temporary to permanent blindness. It is also responsible for yellow and smelly teeth in tobacco users. Smoking causes the degeneration of gums and tiny cells that protect the teeth and mouth from diseases and infection. Inhalation of tobacco kills these cells and consequently teeth infection. Infected teeth and gums start to rot and can form a bad odor, which harms people around when one speaks. Teeth cavities are painful and cause pain and loss of teeth. Teeth become stained with a yellow or brown coating and the effect cannot be reversed unless by expensive procedures of de-colorization of teeth by a dentist.
Cigarettes harm people near them when they breathe passive smoke from smokers. The risks of passive smoking are excessively dangerous because second hand smoke burning off the end of a cigarette is unfiltered and contains a lot of toxins. Involuntary smoking stiffens the aorta as much as the smoking of a cigarette. Half an hour exposure can result in blood clots and increased build up of fat deposits in the blood vessels; thus, increasing the risk of heart attacks and stroke. Between two and four hours exposure, involuntary smoking can cause irregular heartbeats, also known as arrhythmia, and can also trigger fatal cardiac events and heart attacks. Other effects include eye and nasal irritation and increased risks of sinus and respiratory infections. Children of smoking parents report increased respiratory infections and lower lung functionalities compared to the children of nonsmokers. Environmental tobacco smoke is dirtier and causes air pollution, for example, restaurants that allow smoking may be up to six times more polluted than a busy highway. There is a 34% higher risk of developing lung cancer due to second-hand smoke, 30% higher chance of developing heart conditions, and over 3,000 deaths for nonsmokers above 35 years of age. For pregnant women and their children, passive smoke infects the fetus and reduces the oxygen amount in the unborn baby. Involuntary smoking can also cause miscarriages, development of learning issues in children, and ears and lung infections ("Health Dangers of Smoking for Nonsmokers").
In an attempt to control the effects of tobacco use, manufacturers have been mandated to put a warning sign on each packet, primarily to control the use of cigarettes among pregnant women. We live in a smoking society in which tobacco products are easily accessible to everyone and anyone. Once an individual develops the addiction, he or she is in dire danger of serious diseases and complications within the body and immune system. There is a slogan that states that “if you haven’t smoked, don’t start. If you do smoke, quit. Don’t be a loser.” This slogan is popular in society and is mainly used to discourage smoking and prevent regrets of preventable death and disease among the victims. Tobacco use is one of the greatest epidemic in human history and is ultimately known as a primary cause of death in the world. At any cost, one should avoid the dangerous habit of smoking because of the serious risks involved.
Works Cited
"CDC - Fact Sheet - Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking - Smoking & Tobacco Use". Smoking and Tobacco Use. n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Health Dangers of Smoking for Nonsmokers". Healthliteracy.worlded.org. n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Health Effects of Smoking". Be Tobacco Free.gov. n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
