Susceptible To Second Hand Smoke example essay topic

The Harmful Effects Of Smoking a Cigarette The harmful effects of smoking are: Lung Cancer Smoking accounts for about 80-90% of all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, chronic mucus secretion, and chronic air flow blocks. Smoking is involved in 85% of all lung cancer deaths. An individual with chronic bronchitis, which is caused by smoking, is more likely to get a bacterial infection if he or she is a smoker. A smoker gets more nose and throat inflammations, respiratory infections, and chronic bronchitis.

Heart Disease Cigarette smoking accounts for 30% of all heart disease deaths. The carbon monoxide in the cigarette smoke increases the amount of cholesterol clogging the arteries. Smoking causes stiffness in the walls of the arteries, which are, is harmful to the artery and increases the risk for the artery to rupture. The nicotine in cigarettes can raise your blood pressure, heart rate, and the oxygen demand for muscles, especially the heart.

A coronary spasm may occur during smoking, which may lead to chest pain, and a heart attack. Blood clots more readily in smokers than in nonsmokers. Cancers Cigarette Smoking is the major cause of cancer of the lips, tongue, salivary glands, mouth, and esophagus. The development of stomach cancer can be directly associated with smoking. Smoking is known to cause bladder cancer. Quitting smoking will not result in a significant reduction in the risk of getting bladder cancer.

A strong association exists between smoking and leukemia. Women who smoke are at an increased risk of osteoporosis. Second Hand Smoking Second Hand smoking can also be harmful. When a nonsmoker marries a smoker, the risk of getting lung cancer or heart disease doubled. Infants and children have tender tissues and are more susceptible to second hand smoke. Many develop cancers when they get older.

Children of parents, who smoke, are hospitalized more frequently for bronchitis and pneumonia during their first year of life. Children will have more acute respiratory illnesses before the age of two, and they will have colds more too. It is estimated that there are about 53,000 deaths per year as a result of passive smoking in the United States alone. 37,000 of these deaths come from cardiovascular disease. The effects of tobacco smoke are just as bad, if not worse, in nonsmokers as in smokers. All of the risks for smokers also hold true for exposure to second hand smoke.

Tobacco smoke is made up of many hazardous vapors and particles that when inhaled are harmful to both the smoker and to others around him or her. The smoke at the end of a burning cigarette has more particles that are smaller and more harmful than the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker. These smaller particles go deeper into the lung tissue and do more damage. With reduced oxygen, the heart, lungs and brain cannot function properly. This leads to permanent brain and vascular (blood vessel) change.