Smoking Cigarettes: Social & Environmental Impacts

It’s No Joke; Don’t Smoke!

There’s a bad habit that inhabited our country even before it was actually claimed as ours... Smoking cigarettes.  The tobacco plants were once cultivated by the early Native Americans and smoked in pipes for not only medicinal purposes, but ceremonial reasons as well. It is said that after first visiting the Americas, Christopher Columbus brought a few tobacco seeds and leaves back to Europe. However, most Europeans would not acquire their initial taste of tobacco until the mid-16^th century. During this time, adventurers and diplomats like France’s Jean Nicot – the man whom the term “nicotine” derived from – were responsible for propagating its use. Eventually, John Rolfe would aid in cultivating the first successful commercial crop of 1612 in Virginia. It became sensational cash crop and would fuel a demand for labor over the next two centuries.  

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Don’t Be Another Statistic:

In the beginning, no one was aware of the dangers and health effects smoking could cause like we are now. At that time, no one knew that smoking could lead to cancer and premature death. On average, one cigarette shaves about eleven minutes from your life and most of the time, a smoker’s life will be cut short ten years before that of a nonsmoker. Just in the United States, smoking cigarettes causes about 480,000 deaths every year which is equivalent to more than 1,300 deaths in the United States every day. Did you know that with every puff of a cigarette, you breathe in more than 7,000 different chemicals?

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Be Cool and Live Longer:

Smoking was once promoted as the “cool” thing to do. This was during a time when most were unaware of the actual risks of smoking or those who just wanted to make a quick buck and turned their head to warning consumers. Smoking can cause cancer and not just lung cancer either. Did you know you can attain cancer of the nose, mouth, larynx, trachea, esophagus, throat, liver, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, cervix, bone marrow and blood, colon, and rectum? And I mean, who would want that, right!? Smoking can also affect someone’s autoimmune system, heart, vision and reproductive system. Every time a person smokes, their body works as if it is under attack. The lungs will become inflamed and damaged. Once the body recognizes this, our immune system will kick into high gear to attempt to repair the damage. If one were to continue to smoke, it will make matters worse. Do this: imagine spilling an irritant on your skin. If you were to do this multiple times a day, your skin would never have the chance to heal. It would remain red, irritated and inflamed. That’s what happens to the body of a smoker. It never really gets the chance to truly heal.   Teens are more susceptible to begin smoking because they view it as a “fad” or it will be them look rebellious, “cool” even. I am not certain, but I do not believe that something that can stain your teeth and fingernails yellow is very trend worthy. Smoking can also cause signs of premature aging like wrinkles. Sometimes, smoking can cause gum disease which will cause one to lose their teeth altogether. Another problem with starting to smoke when you’re a teen is that our lungs continue to grow until we are 20 and smoking can stunt that growth. Damage like this is permanent and can cause chronic bronchitis and emphysema.   Smoking is not just harmful to the body of a smoker, but to those who are nonsmokers as well. We have all heard it… SECOND HAND SMOKE. When a person smoke a cigarette, most of the smoke does not travel to their lungs. Instead, it is emitted into the air nearby. Second hand smoke actually makes someone else more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer; other types of cancer and can also have an effect on your heart. In the United States, around 34,000 deaths from heart disease and about 7,300 deaths from lung cancer are caused by second hand smoke each year. Second hand smoke conditions can be especially harmful to children because their bodies are still growing and children breathe at a faster rate than adults. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or “SIDS”, bronchitis, pneumonia, severe and frequent asthma attacks, ear infections and chronic cough are all symptoms that children can experience due to second hand smoke. Second hand smoke can cause even more damage to a growing fetus. If a mother-to-be smokes while pregnant, she can cause premature delivery, SIDS, limited mental ability, and ADHD. Make sure to keep that your home is smoke-free to avoid causing others in your home harm. If you are a smoker and smoke outside, make sure to use air filters that help maintain the smoke odor and pollutants out of the air your breathe inside your home as well.

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Need real life stories? Just take a look at this.

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