Smoking: The Use of Natures Deadly Plant

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes multiple chronic diseases, hurts the environment, and is the leading cause of death in the United States. The hazards of smoking are constantly being discussed on television, in newspapers, on the radio, and all other forms of communication. Without a doubt the American public has been immersed in the negative effects of smoking yet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2006 statistics show that 20.8% of the total population continues to smoke. How can a nation that prides itself on people of at least average intelligence ignore the simple facts of the dangers of tobacco use? Smoking is dangerous to an individuals health as well as the health of his family members. Smoking cost the individual thousands of dollars a year, and society billions. However, the body of a smoker can recover from the negative effects of smoking with abstinence and time. Smoking should be illegal in all public places because it is to harmful. The consumption of cigarettes is considered to be one of the leading causes of death in the United States today. According to the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report the adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths (51:300). This report also states that more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined (56:1157-1161). Smoking has both long term and short term effects on multiple organs and body systems.

Smoking has proven to be detrimental to the human circulatory system. It is the primary cause of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. The U.S. Department of Health 1999 report on Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking reports that cigarette smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers. Studies have also shown that individuals with a history of heart attacks were twice as likely as non-smokers to have a repeat attack and cigarette smoking approximately doubles a persons risk for stroke (Ockene and Miller, 3244). Smokers are also more than ten times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral vascular disease (Fielding, Husten, and Eriksen). Cancer is one of the first diseases casually linked to smoking and is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. According to the Department of Healths 2004 report The Health Consequences of Smoking, 90% of lung cancer deaths in women and almost 80% of lung cancer deaths in men can be attributed to smoking. The report also concluded that the risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher among men who smoke cigarettes, and about 13 times higher among women who smoke cigarettes compared with never smokers (42:234-235). Smoking has also been known to cause cancers of the bladder, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx (voice box), esophagus, cervix, kidney, lung, pancreas, and stomach, and causes acute myeloid leukemia (Jackson).

Cigarette smoking also causes several lung diseases that can be just as dangerous as lung cancer. Chronic bronchitis, a disease where the airways produce excess mucus and forces the smoker to cough frequently, is a common ailment of smokers. Cigarette smoking is also a major cause of emphysema, a disease that slowly destroys a persons ability to breathe. Eventually, the smokers lung surface area can become so small that a person with emphysema has to spend most of the time gasping for breath, with an oxygen bottle nearby or with oxygen tubes inserted into the nasal cavity. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, kills about 81,000 people each year. The Health Consequences of Smoking reported that about 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung diseases are attributable to cigarette smoking (Gray). Cigarette smoking has many adverse reproductive and early childhood effects, including an increased risk for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and SIDS. When a pregnant woman smokes, she really is smoking for two because the nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other dangerous chemicals in smoke enter her bloodstream and pass directly into the baby's body. Statistics show a direct relation between smoking during pregnancy and spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, death among newborns, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Research shows that the risk of SIDS triples for babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy. Mounting evidence in recent years has also made it clear that children of mothers who smoke

have higher than normal risks of developing asthma, especially if the mother smokes during pregnancy (Jackson). Compromised health and death are only two of the costs of smoking. Smoking creates a financial burden on smokers, the smokers family, and society. The personal costs associated with smoking adds up over time. If an individual smokes one pack a day for ten years and the average cost per pack was $2.50 the individual cost of purchasing the cigarettes would total approximately $10,000. If a thirty-eight-year-old person quit smoking and invested the $1,000 annual savings in a retirement account with an 8% rate of return the individual would have $100,000 by age 65 (Singletary). Although the individual costs associated with smoking are significant the overall cost of lighting up stretch far beyond the cost of a pack of cigarettes. Smokers pay more for insurance. They lose money when they resale their cars and homes. They spend extra money on dry cleaning and teeth cleaning. Overall, they earn less in pension and social security benefits. Employers are also becoming more aware of the financial liability associated with a smoking employee. Overall, estimates of the additional costs of an average smoking employee range from several hundred to several thousands of dollars per year. When the increased financial burden associated with smokers is multiplied times, several employees smoking could end up costing an employer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Smokers cost employers more from increased medical costs, increased insurance premiums, decreased productivity, increased episodes of illness and increased

accidents. The costs keep increasing: The CDC estimates that national productivity losses because of smoking total $92 billion annually. That is in addition to the $75.5 billion spent annually for medical expenses associated with smoking(Singletary). All in all, the economical burden placed on an employer due to smoking is substantial and worthy of future consideration. When considering the overall effects of smoking one cannot forget the effect of secondhand smoke on society as a whole. When non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke they absorb nicotine and other toxic chemicals just like smokers do. The level of these harmful chemicals is directly related to the amount of secondhand smoke a nonsmoker is exposed to. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), secondhand smoke is classified as a known human cancer-causing agent. The American Cancer Society reports that: secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in non-smoking children and adults secondhand smoke resulted in 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults secondhand smoke was responsible for an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers (89:8411) Scientific evidence shows that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Smokers have a personal responsibility to protect friends, family, and acquaintances from exposure to their secondhand smoke. Since there is no way to fully protect non-smokers

from exposure to secondhand smoke, the smoker needs to seriously consider the fact that the best method of protection is to quit smoking completely. Regardless of the number of years a person has smoked it is never too late to quit smoking. From a short term standpoint an individuals heart rate and blood pressure drops within 20 minutes of quitting smoking (Mahud & Feely, 41). The 1988 U.S. Surgeon Generals Report determined that individuals that quit smoking have a normal carbon monoxide level within twelve hours. From a long term perspective the U.S. Surgeon Generals Report The Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation revealed: Coughing and shortness of breath decreased with one to nine months of quitting The excess risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half one year after quitting. the risk of stroke is reduced to the same risk as a nonsmoker within 5 years of quitting the risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smokers within 15 years of quitting (14:186) Many people do not like the thought of not being able to smoke in public places because they feel it is violating their freedom. Should these people be able to smoke where ever they want, and harm every innocent person in the area? If someone wants to harm themselves by smoking, then they should do it in their own home, so they do not harm everyone else. Secondhand smoke is just as harmful as firsthand. The U.S. does ensure freedom to its citizens, but it does not allow people to harm other people in any way. Smoking, in the long run, kills too many people to allow smoking in public areas. During the next decade experts predict over 12 million men and women will die an agonizing death from diseases caused by smoking, leaving in their wake countless family

tragedies and great economic loss to society. Please do not smoke, it is harming everyone around. And remember, avoid long-term exposure to smoke and protect children from it.

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