Hazards of Smoking
Hazards of SmokingThere are many things today which cause us harm. One can spend virtually an entire day listing the hazards faced by modern society. However, none of these hazards are as deadly as a habit millions of American's bring on themselves twenty to thirty times a day. Smoking is the cause of a multitude of medical problems that plague not only the individual smoker, but everyone else as well.
Smoking is defined as the inhaling and exhaling of the fumes of burning plant material, especially tobacco, from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. First introduced into Europe by early explorers, the habit has become worldwide. Cigarette companies themselves knew decades ago that smoking could kill, but rather than coming clean and risking commercial oblivion, they deployed a barrage of unscrupulous marketing and ingeniously manipulated scientific data to conceal their findings. Their customers continued to be willing co -conspirators in the tobacco delusion because they wanted to believe the image of smokers promoted in advertising.
The deleterious health effects of tobacco smoking have long been recognized. As early as the 19th century, isolated reports were circulated that cigar and pipe smoking caused cancer of the mouth. It was not until the 20th century--in fact, until 1950--that firm evidence was established that lung cancer was directly related to cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is now the most common cause of cancer deaths in men of most Western countries. Because cigarette smoking became a popular and fairly widespread habit among men during World War II and because this disease has a long latency period, the rise in the incidence of lung cancer during the second part of the 20th century was expected. In the late 20th century, in many countries, as many as one-third of all cancer deaths in men and 10 percent of those in women are attributed to cigarette smoking. As the current trend of males to give up smoking continues, the male percentage will decline. Less optimistically, however, increasingly more women picked up the habit in the 1950s and '60s; the proportion of women dying from a tobacco-related cancer thus was increasing. Women who smoke during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a low birth weight baby, 27% more likely to miscarry and a third more likely to suffer still-birth, and smoking while pregnant has also been linked to cot deaths and increased chances of congenital defects.
In general, the risk of developing a tobacco-related cancer depends on the intensity of the habit as determined by duration of the smoking habit, number of cigarettes smoked per day, tar content of the cigarette, and the depth of inhalation. Cigarette smoking is not only related to the development of lung cancer but also affects the development of cancer of the bladder, oral cavity, and esophagus. The risk of developing one...
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