TOBACCO AND ITS EFFECTS
Tobacco smoking is probably the most widespread and dangerous drug usage
in the United States. The cigarette consumption in the United States has generally
been subject to certain factors. For example, the greatest increases in smoking have
occurred during wars. The rise began in 1915. World War II produced another jump;
the rise between 1942 and 1946 was extremely sharp. The main reason for this
periodic increase is that the population in general experienced increased tension.
Another reason for this increase during wartime is that young soldiers are introduced
to smoking as a tension reliever.
Despite public information campaigns on the subject, too few smokers realize
the degree and extent of damage to their bodies associated with cigarette smoking.
Each day in the United States, 250 people die of heart attacks, 175 of lung cancer and
150 from other cigarette-related diseases.
Minor ailments directly related to smoking compete with the common cold as
major causes of the time lost from work and studies.
Recently, studies of large groups of people have shown that cigarette smokers
are more likely to die of certain cardiovascular diseases than non-smokers. A cause
and effect association has theoretically been established between cigarette smoking
and incidence of coronary attacks in humans, especially men between 35 and 55
years of age. The risk of death in male cigarette smokers in relation to non-smokers is
greater in middle age than in old age. Smoking is being increasingly linked to the
development of respiratory diseases, such as bronchitis and emphysema. Air
pollution and respiratory infections as well as smoking cause and aggravate chronic
bronchitis and emphysema.
Smokers are not only polluting their own air with their cigarettes but are
subjecting non-smokers, who make up three quarters of the population, to nearly the
same health risk. Subjected to the effects of side-stream smoke, non-smokers may
breathe in many of the toxic anneals of the cigarette from the environment they are in
and are, in fact, "passively smoking".
Tobacco contains more than hundred known chemical compounds including
nicotine. Moreover, additional compounds are produced during combustion. Nicotine
and at least 15 other compounds found in cigarette smoke are known to be
cancerogens.
Smoking also causes damage to the protective mechanisms of the lungs. It's
itself an irritant. Heavy smokers can feel this irritation in their throats and very often
develop 'smoker's cough' after a few years of smoking.
