Cigarette Smoke example essay topic

One of the most popular habits in today's society is smoking. Yet each year, cigarette smoking kills more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, homicides, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. Smoking is an extremely bad pastime, practiced for centuries, for an individual's health and those surrounding him / her. People start for many different reasons and get addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. Smoking cause many fatal diseases, but help is available to those who seek it.

Cigarette smoking is a disgusting and unhealthy habit. History of Smoking Smoking is defined as the action of inhaling tobacco from a pipe, cigar or cigarette. It has been practiced for 100's of years, including by early North-American natives. Europeans had introduced it into the Old World by the early 16th century (Petra kis). It was continually practiced since then throughout the world, with tobacco companies arising and packaged cigarettes soon available. Smokers would praise it for medicinal reasons and also claimed smoking to be pleasurable.

Smokers had no knowledge of cigarette smoke's harm to their health until 1964, when the surgeon general of the U. S Public Health Service concluded that smoking was hazardous to an individual's health, and soon after it was discovered that second-hand smoke was also hazardous to the health of surrounding non-smokers inhaling it. Reasons Why People Smoke There are many reasons why people begin smoking. One of which is insecurity. In an uncertain situation in which a person is not comfortable with their individuality and not confident with themselves, if there are smokers around then that person may be tempted to take up smoking. It might be because they would like to "fit in" with an unknown group of people, or someone may take it up based on a new friend's or girl / boyfriend's influences. Another reason why people take up smoking is because of peer pressure leading to a quick physical addiction.

One ingredient in cigarettes is nicotine, and it is extremely addictive. And yet nicotine is not the only physical reason people smoke, they are also get hooked on the taste, smell and the feel of cigarettes. Health Risks of Smoking According to the American Heart Association there are an estimated 50 million Americans who smoke. Many smokers claim that smoking relieves them of stress and relaxes and comforts them. In recent years it has been proven that the only thing smoking does is threaten a person's life.

There are many hazardous ingredients in cigarette tobacco. Some of the ingredients are poisonous and addictive. Cigarette smoke produces thousands of chemicals that are hazardous to a smoker's health. There are over 4000 chemicals produced by a burning cigarette. At least 200 chemicals are known to be poisonous to people health. Filters help to block and reduce some of the chemicals, but they will not stop them completely.

Nicotine is the most addictive ingredient and also one of the most dangerous ingredients in cigarette tobacco. Cigarette smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes as a drug-addict is addicted to heroin or cocaine. When a person smokes a cigarette the body reacts immediately to the chemical nicotine. It requires less than 10 seconds for inhaled nicotine to reach the brain. Nicotine begins to effect a smoker's blood pressure, the flow of blood from their heart, the heartbeat and breathing rate. Cigarette smoke also contains carbon monoxide, the same poisonous gases released from a car exhaust pipe.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless highly toxic gas that reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Combined with the effects produced by the nicotine, it creates an imbalance in the demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount of oxygen the blood is able to supply. In this case, carbon monoxide will damage the inner walls of the arteries that encourage the buildup of fat. Which cause the vessels of the arteries to narrow and harden, nicotine also is a contribute to the happening. Tar is another chemical produced from cigarette smoke. It contains at least 30 cancer-causing irritants.

Tar is a mixture of several substances that condense into a sticky substance on the lung. Tobacco manufactures have produced a cigarette that is low tar and low nicotine to reduce the chance of cancer. Yet these cigarettes can hardly be considered "less hazardous", seeing as how most people believe that this term should never be applied to cigarettes. Though reducing the number of cigarettes smoked and lowering tar and nicotine seems to lower the risk, these measures do not remove all the hazards.

There are also many deadly diseases related to smoking cigarettes. The respiratory diseases that have been linked to cigarette smoking are lung cancer, cancer of the larynx, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and heart disease. Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor in the development of lung cancer, it is known and is avoidable. The risk of developing lung cancer greatly increases with the years of cigarette smoking. Tobacco smoking is a carcinogen that is a cancer-inducing agent. When a smoker inhales tobacco smoke into their lungs it passes though tubes called bronchi, which causes damage to the cell lining.

During the exposure to cigarette smoke the bronchi produces extra mucus to clean away the material left behind by the smoke. Small particles in cigarette tar referred to as "particulates" kill the small hairs called "cilia" in the lungs that clean away the excess mucus. These particulates can also scar lung tissues. In the last three puffs of a cigarette, there are up to 67 times as many particulates as in the first. Some of the effects caused by these particulates are continuous coughing, often with spats of mucus and in rare cases mixed with blood and chest pain. Cigarette smoking also dramatically increases heart disease.

The heart disease risk factors that can are changed by tobacco smoking are high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and physical inactivity. A smoker's chance of developing lung cancer or heart disease are twice that as a non-smoker, and up to 4 times that if that smoker smokes 2 or more packs a day. In the late 1980's, smoking caused 30% of all lung cancer deaths and %20 of all heart disease deaths (McCarthy). Another effect on your health from long-term smoking is emphysema or chronic bronchitis. Emphysema is a lung disease that destroys the elasticity of the lungs and impairs its ability to inhale and exhale properly.

In early symptoms of emphysema smokers may find it difficult to breathe. For instance, during or after physical activity a smoker will find himself or herself short of breath, or even gasping for air. Victims of emphysema often die of heart attacks because of the years of increased stress on the heart. In advanced cases, emphysema and chronic bronchitis may cause chest deformities, overwhelming disability, heart enlargement, severe respiratory failure or death. Equally important, is how cigarette smoke effects the health of others. What has become known as second-hand smoke or "passive smoking" can be just as dangerous as first-hand smoke.

In a closed room cigarette smoke can produce enough carbon monoxide to affect everyone who is in it. There are also indications that secondhand smoke will have the same effects on the lungs of a non-smoker as in a smoker. Passive smoking is suspected of being the cause of thousands of cases of lung cancer each year (McCarthy). Pregnant women are advised not to smoke as well. When a mother smokes, so does her unborn child. A pregnant woman who smokes passes on the poisons of the cigarette tobacco in her placenta, which is then carried on to her baby.

Pregnant mothers also run a high risk of having children with birth defects, including minimal weight, which poses a threat to the child's life. Children whose parents smoke tend to develop twice as many lung infections as children of non-smoking parents. Smoking related diseases cause the death of more than 400,000 Americans each year. Second-hand smoke is estimated to cause the death of over 40,000 non-smokers a year (Excite). Cigarette smoking seems to be an extremely unhealthy habit, which could lead to one's own death or the death of others close to that individual due to second-hand smoke. Methods of Quitting Smoking There are many methods used today to help people quit smoking.

One of which is actually what people refer to as "going cold turkey". This term means that an individual requires no help in quitting, they just stop and try to stay stopped. There are medicines also available to assist in helping people quit smoking. Prescriptions are available to smokers for a nicotine skin patch or a smoker could invest in nicotine gum. A nicotine patch is placed on the skin and emits small quantities of nicotine into the blood to feed a smoker's nicotine cravings.

After time, the smoker is accustomed to not smoking and can gradually stop using the patch. Nicotine gum, when chewed, releases nicotine into a person's system, which relieves their cravings while helping them quit. Another drug available to help smokers quit is Zyban. Zyban has been clinically proven to reduce nicotine cravings over time and help a smoker quit fairly easily. The amazing thing about Zyban is that it contains no nicotine whatsoever (safewebmed). There are support groups available to help smokers quit.

They encourage a smoker to keep their mind on other things such as exercising, reading, watching television, or anything else that would distract someone from smoking. The government also encourages people to quit smoking. Cigarette smokers are warned each time they smoke a cigarette of the deadly diseases that could effect their health. By law a warning label must appear on each pack and carton of cigarettes warning buyers of the hazards. There is also a ban on television and radio ads for cigarettes in the United States, and in Canada there is a ban on all advertisements for tobacco companies. It is also illegal to smoke in most public places now, including some restaurants, elevators, the workplace, schools, airlines, public transportation machines and most stores.

Also, the Canadian and American governments prohibit the selling of cigarettes to anyone younger than 19 years of age. Although there are still many individuals who smoke worldwide, one can hope that sometime in the future there will only be non-smokers. Smoking only proves to lead to an early grave for smokers and non-smokers alike. With medicines, support groups and will power, the world could easily become a cleaner, non-smoking place, because a smoker's death is an unneeded death.