The Dangers Of Smoking
... tobacco. These companies spend $23 million a day and 8.4 billion dollars on marketing a year to get people hooked, and a majority of this advertising is targeted to young kids and teens. Tobacco use can be very expensive for the average user. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes these days is about $4.50. If a person smokes a pack of cigarettes per day for a year, it would cost $1643.50. Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for ten years would cost $16,425, enough money to buy a brand new car. Smoking is a very expensive addiction, and trying to quit is also very expensive and can take years. There are many negative risks associated with smoking cigarettes. Smoking can cause diminished or extinguished sense of smell and taste, frequent colds, premature and more abundant face wrinkles, stroke, heart disease, cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, lungs, pancreas, and tongue, among other things. For people who think smoking can be relaxing, they should think again. The American Cancer Society claims that smoking can actually cause or further increase stress, nervousness, and agitation rather than be calming. Cigarette smoke is more than harmful to the smoker, it is harmful to everyone. It is almost impossible these days to avoid second-hand smoke when one in every four Americans are smokers. Non-smokers are exposed to over 5,000 different chemicals, including 200 known poisons, when they breathe in second-hand smoke. Some of those chemicals include formaldehyde, arsenic, radioactive compounds, and carbon monoxide. At least 50 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer, and are also known to cause heart disease, strokes, nasal sinus cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and brain tumors, many of the same diseases that smokers are susceptible to. People exposed to second-hand smoke are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease, according to the American Heart Association. Unfortunately, second-hand smoke kills about 60,000 non-smokers each year. 3,000 of those deaths are from lung cancer. Most of these people have never smoked a day in their life, but because they have been exposed to second-hand smoke by a friend, family member, or co-worker, their lives have been cut short. Second-hand smoke is made up of about 80 percent ø¶idestream smoke.? This is the smoke that comes from the lit end of the cigarette, does not pass through the filter, and contains higher concentrations of toxins and cancer-causing chemicals. This smoke gets inhaled and harms the smoker as well as the people near the smoker. The smoke that is inhaled by the smoker is called ø°ainstream smoke,?and the smoker inhales most of its harmful chemicals, but many of them are still released into the air as the smoker exhales. Second-hand smoke is extremely dangerous to young children and infants. A child who has parents that smoke is twice as likely to develop an acute respiratory illness than a child who has non-smoking parents. Children÷Õ lungs are still developing, and they are at greater risks to developing sore throats, colds, wheezing and coughing, tonsilitis, meningitis, ear infections, asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia when they are exposed to second-hand smoke. These children are more likely to miss school and get poor grades because they are often sick. The U.S. Environmental Agency blames second-hand smoke for up to 30,000 cases of asthma and 15,000 hospitalizations in children each year due to respiratory problems. It is very difficult for non-smokers to completely avoid any exposure to cigarette smoke. Both parties have rights in this situation. The non-smokers have a right to breathe in clean air, especially people who have allergies. Who wants cigarette smoke blown in their face anyway? The smokers have a right to smoke and there have already been restrictions on where they can do this. Many restaurants do not allow smoking, along with many inside recreational activities, public transportation, and many other confined areas. It is the smoker÷Õ decision to smoke and ruin his or her health and it is the non-smokers decision not to smoke, but the non-smokers health is still being affected even though they are not smoking. It seems that many times non-smokers are exposed to cigarette smoke against their will. It is hard to tell a smoker that they cannot smoke wherever they want, whenever they want. A smoker does have the right to smoke if that is what...