Dangers of Smoking

Why Smoking Is Bad For You

The fact that smoking is bad for you is no secret. We'll all seen the pictures of charcoal black lungs displayed in schools and in hospital and doctors waiting rooms. Despite these scare tactics people continue to smoke and new smokers adopt the habit every single day. Amazingly smoking can still be viewed as an adult thing to do and children continue to be influenced by this. Their parents or guardians smoke therefore they should smoke too if they want to be really grown up - or at least that's their perception. All smokers wish they had never smoked that first lousy cigarette and shake their heads in disbelief when they see their own kids or teenagers starting to smoke.

Tobacco can be "ingested" in more than one way. Some people chew it, others inhale it as snuff but the majority smoke it in the form of cigars and cigarettes - which is the habit we've all come to know and hate as smokers. Regardless of how you take tobacco it's dangerous. Smoking is the most popular method for people to use tobacco and as such has received massive coverage in both the media and from the medical profession.

Why Smoking Makes You Happy

When a smoker inhales a single "shot" of nicotine from a cigarette the lungs allow the nicotine to pass into the blood stream almost instantly. The smoker then feels the "hit" from the nicotine in their bloodstream and this is the sensation that they crave later on. Don't just assume that you're inhaling "pure" tobacco smoke either. That cigarette you're smoking contains up to 4,000 separate chemicals - many of which are extremely toxic.

That smoke you inhale from a cigarette contains 43 carcinogenic substances. These are substances which have been clinically proven to cause various types of cancer. Cigarette smoke also contains 400 other toxins that can be found in rat poison, nail polish remover and various types of wood varnish. Would you willingly eat any of these products? Of course not because you know that they're incredibly bad for you. As these carcinogens and toxins gather in the body they begin to cause serious problems for the heart and lungs.

Of all the diseases associated with smoking cancer is the most common. Cancer is a relatively new disease that has really only become prevalent since the beginning of the industrial revolution. In effect cancer is a manmade disease for which there is, as of yet, no cure.

Some facts:

90% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking.

30% of all cancer fatalities are caused by smoking.





The Effects of Secondary Smoke


