The Health Effects of Smoking
The effects of smoking on a person's health are very damaging and significant. Although nicotine, the main chemical extracted from the tobacco plant, is the primary reason for the negative health effects of smoking, the method of nicotine intake is also a key factor in smoking's effectiveness as a damaging health agent. Generally, when you smoke, the effects of smoking will hurt your body more than any other form of tobacco use. Smoking is more harmful than snuff, or chew and through the dispersion of second hand smoke, it can also harm people other than the actual user.
In 2002, the World Health Organization released a report stating that an estimated 26% of male deaths and approximately 9% of female deaths in America are probably related to the effects of tobacco use, and particularly smoking. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga. states that tobacco use is actually the, "…single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."
The effects of tobacco use is so detrimental to human health that those who smoke generally live up to 10 years less than persons who do not smoke at all. Nearly 50% of all men who smoke will eventually die due to illnesses that are smoking habit related because of high levels of nicotine intake. The statistics are astounding. Nearly 438,000 American citizens will die every year due to tobacco related issues. That equates to approximately 1,205 deaths per day. Amazingly, these known harmful effects of smoking continue to make no difference in the choices made by smokers around the world.
The primary health issues associated with tobacco relate to the variety of diseases that can be contracted by the cardiovascular system. The risk of a heart attack is the main danger for anyone who has been ignoring the known effects of smoking. Other diseases like emphysema, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affect the respiratory tract in very damaging ways that often lead to death. Up until World War I, many doctors considered lung cancer to be a very rare disease. In fact, many doctors had never seen or diagnosed a case of lung cancer during their entire careers. However, after World War I cigarette use increased dramatically and with this increase in smoking, the number of people being diagnosed with lung cancer skyrocketed.
The effects of smoking at the time went relatively unknown for a few more decades. The connection between the harmful effects of smoking and getting lung cancer was not identified until nearly 40 years later. In fact, the numbers tell a startling truth. Among all of the people who have smoked tobacco at any times in their lives, nearly 10% will eventually develop lung cancer. The chances are even worse for people who regularly smoke. Nearly 17% will definitely develop lung cancer. For non-smokers, the chances are greatly reduced. A non-smoker's chance of contracting lung cancer is only 1.3%.
The harmful effects of smoking have been publicly known for a great deal of time. Even with tobacco companies fighting to attract new customers, the number of smokers who are quitting is increasing. Hopefully, they learned about the effects of smoking soon enough and will remain healthy and avoid contracting lung cancer or any other related illnesses.
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