Biology Effects Of Smoking, Essay, Research Paper
Hurting Yourself
* Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it
very hard, but not impossible, to quit.
* More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking
greatly increases your risk for lung cancer and many other cancers.
Hurting Others
* Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers, and others who breathe
the smoker’s cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke.
* Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000
cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year.
* Secondhand smoke from a parent’s cigarette increases a child’s chances for middle ear problems,
causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.
* If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke than a young person whose
parents are both nonsmokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also
more likely to start smoking.
* Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the
babies’ good health. If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not
die each year.
Why Quit?
* Quitting smoking makes a difference right away-you can taste and smell food better. Your breath
smells better. Your cough goes away. This happens for men and women of all ages, even those who
are older. It happens for healthy people as well as those who already have a disease or condition
caused by smoking.
* Quitting smoking cuts the risk of lung cancer, many other cancers, heart disease, stroke, other lung
diseases, and other respiratory illnesses.
* Ex-smokers have better health than current smokers. Ex-smokers have fewer days of illness, fewer
health complaints, and less bronchitis and pneumonia than current smokers.
* Quitting smoking saves money. A pack-a-day smoker, who pays $2 per pack, can expect to save
more than $700 per year. It appears that the price of cigarettes will continue to rise in coming years,
as will the financial rewards of quitting.