Why Is Smoking Bad?
Why is smoking bad? To gain a true understanding of why smoking is bad, perhaps it is first important to answer the question, “why is smoking good?” For centuries, people have succumbed to the addictive habit of smoking. From grandpa’s sweet-smelling pipe to Madea’s Virginia Slims; from one city to the next state and across the globe, smokers from all walks of life light up millions of cigarettes, cigars, and pipes every single day. Unfortunately, this can have some pretty serious health consequences.
Because many people are lured to begin smoking for various reasons, one of the biggest problems with smoking is that the substances smoked are addictive. This means, once you start, you can't stop. Thus, even people who are aware of all the health consequences may be hooked.
Because tobacco smoking has declined and the industry is threatened by those who have decided to kick the habit, tobacco companies are constantly developing strategies to keep people puffing. Since its discovery, the tobacco industry continues to be one of the most lucrative businesses of all-time. In spite of its current challenges, tobacco companies produce more than $5.5 billion in any given year. Since the 17th century, it, along with cotton has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world.
Why Is Smoking Bad?
Why is smoking bad? What’s in tobacco smoke that makes it so unhealthy? According to the National Cancer Institute, the average cigarette contains over 43 known carcinogenic compounds. In second-hand smoke, over 4,000 chemicals and 400 other toxins have been discovered – they literally affect every organ in the human body. Although there are many more toxins found in tobacco smoke, listed here are a few cancer-causing compounds you can find within the 4000 chemicals in second-hand smoke:
- Benzene - a chemical found in gasoline
- Arsenic – a toxic heavy metal used in rat poisoning
- Ethylene oxide – a sterilizing chemical used to clean medical devices
- Vinyl Chloride – a chemical used to manufacture plastics
- Cadmium – a metal used to manufacture batteries
- Polonium 210 – a radiation chemical
- Nitrosamines – a chemical compound produced by nitrates
Many of the chemicals used to manufacture smokes are approved by the FDA as being safe (before its chemical composition is changed by lighting up). Unfortunately, once you light up and take a puff, all of these many chemicals can cause serious problems. Worse, these problems are often compounded and become worse the more you smoke.
How Smoking Affects Health
According to the CDC, annually, over 600 billion cigarettes are smoked each year and more than 440,000 people lose their lives to the habit of smoking. From innocent unborn babies and children who live with their puffing parents to the non-smoking second-hand smoker bound by a working environment of exhaled gases, chemicals, and the germs of others, tobacco smoke is proven to be a lurking predator that inflicts adverse affects on everyone.
Tobacco smoke causes lung and bronchial ailments such as sinusitis, allergies, even asthma in children and adults. In addition to this, irritations and sensitivities can develop and the spread of germs and bacteria through smoke can produce airborne disease.
It also reduces the birth weight of newborns by as much as two or three pounds! Even worse, newborns of parents who smoke are known to have a higher risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
Second-Hand Smoke
Why is smoking bad? Perhaps, the most vulnerable of victims are the non-smokers who are forced to smoke everyone’s cigarette brand non-stop in the smoking environments they visit. Many states, in recognition of this problem, have passed ordinances prohibiting smoking in public buildings, including bars or restaurants. These prohibitions were passed in light of the serious dangers associated with smoking, and are a clear reflection of just how bad society thinks cigarettes are.