HEALTH: Dangers of Smoking
July 3, 2008 – 12:09 pm
Cigarette smoking is a bad habit that has unfavourable effects on the body. It causes many diseases and gives harm to every organ of the body. If a man smokes a pack of cigarette everyday, his life expectancy is 7 years shorter than a person who never smokes. It means smoker kills himself slowly day by day. There are more than 700 chemical additives in cigarettes. Most of them are toxic chemicals. One of these chemicals is nicotine. It causes physical and psychological addiction in humans.
Some of the dangerous chemicals in tobacco:
What is in a cigarette?
- Ammonia is found in flour cleaner.
- Arsenic is found in rat poison.
- Polonium is a radioactive element.
- Chromium is a toxic.
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons cause tumours.
- Nitrosamines damage DNA.
- Fungicides and pesticides cause many types of cancer and prostate.
- Butane is a poisonous gas.
- Nickel causes lung infections.
- Acetylene is used for fuel in torches.
- Hydrogen Cyanide is used in gas chambers.
- Ethyl 2-furoate is used a chemical warfare agent.
- Formaldehyde is used to preserve dead bodies.
Some of the health risks of cigarette smoking include:
Cardiovascular disease: Nicotine enters the body in cigarette smoke and spreads to all parts of the body easily. It affects heart and blood circulation in a harmful way then, causes a disease in arteries.
Cancer: At least 69 of the chemicals in tobacco cause cancer. Cancer caused by cigarette include of the cervix, throat, mouth, stomach, pancreas, lung, kidneys, bladder, oesophagus, bone marrow, larynx and pancreas cancer.
Early childhood effects: These are infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome.
Bad effects to your blood: Cigarette smoking increases the blood pressure. Many chemicals from cigarette smoke pass through the lungs into the bloodstream. These chemicals spreads everywhere with the blood flows.
Cholesterol: Smoking decreases HDL (good) cholesterol on the body and increases LDL (bad) cholesterol in the bloodstream.
Other effects: Headaches, weight loss, loss appetite, feeling tired all the time, hoarseness, cough, wheezing, having yellow teeth, bad breath, sore throat, gangrene, increased cavities, increased stress, osteoporosis.
The financial cost of smoking: Have you ever thought how much you spend on smoking?
Smoking is an expensive habit. It can be burden on your budget. It causes health care costs and costs of accidental fires.