Dangers Of Smoking Essay Research Paper The

Dangers Of Smoking Essay, Research Paper

The Dangers of Smoking

When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, he found the natives using tobacco in much the same manner as it is used today. The American Indians believed it to possess 0medicinal properties, which was the main reason for its introduction into Europe. Tobacco was important in Indian ceremonies, such as the smoking of the pipe of peace.

Health issues.

The detrimental effects of tobacco smoking have long been recognised. 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 (1950 in fact) that firm evidence was established that lung cancer was directly related to cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is now the most common cause of cancer related deaths in the men of most Western countries. Because cigarette smoking became a popular and fairly widespread habit amongst 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. 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.

In general, the risk of developing a tobacco-related cancer depends on the intensity of the habit as determined by duration (i.e. number of cigarettes smoked per day, tar content of the cigarette, and the depth of inhalation). Cigarette smoking not only is related to the development of lung cancer but also affects the development of cancer of the bladder, oral cavity, and oesophagus. As noted, the risk of developing one of these cancers increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Studies have also shown that various cancer sites are affected differently by different tobacco products, as well as by different intensities. In general, however, those sites that come into direct contact with tobacco smoke (the lungs, oral cavity, and larynx) are those that are the most adversely affected by exposure to smoke.

Passive smoking (i.e., a non-smoker.s inhalation of smoke produced by smokers in an enclosed space) also appears to heighten the risk of developing lung cancer. Several studies have found that, over the long term, the non-smoking spouses of smokers. experience a lung cancer risk that is almost double that of spouses of non-smokers. It should be emphasised, however, that smokers continue to have a much higher lung-cancer risk; the lung-cancer mortality risk for a heavy smoker is 20 to 30 times greater than that of a non-smoker.

Smoking is also a prime risk factor in cardiovascular system diseases. Nicotine is known to contract the blood vessels and to release hormones that raise the blood pressure. Both effects could have an adverse effect on the heart. Smokers have distinctly higher levels of carbon monoxide in their blood than non-smokers. Carbon monoxide readily combines with haemoglobin (almost 100 times more readily than oxygen), causing many physiological effects. One is a decrease in the amount of haemoglobin available to carry oxygen and a resulting increase in the affinity for oxygen of the haemoglobin that is available. This in turn reduces the availability of oxygen to the tissues. It has been shown that even minute amounts of carbon monoxide decrease the exercise ability of patients with known coronary artery disease.

Another important piece of epidemiological evidence linking smoking to disease is that as individuals give up smoking, the risk of lung cancer, coronary artery disease, chronic bronchitis, incontinence, emphysema, and other tobacco-related diseases declines. The speed and degree of this decline depends, as would be expected, on the duration and intensity of the smoking habit. Amongst those who have smoked over 20 cigarettes a day for over 20 years, a minimum of three years must elapse after quitting before a decreased risk for cancer is evident; more than 10 years of abstinence is necessary before the degree of risk approaches that for those who have never smoked.

Public reaction to the reports of the health hazards has been to campaign for the reduction of smoking or, among users, to switch to cigarettes with filter-tips and to prefer brands made of milder tobaccos. There has been a drive by tobacco producing countries to grow types with low nicotine and tar contents.

After the major medical revelations about smoking during the 1950s and ’60s there was an increasing attempt to lessen the influence of tobacco advertising in several countries. Cigarette manufacturers in Canada agreed to end television advertising in 1972 after a bill to effect that end was passed in the Commons. In West Germany television advertising of cigarettes was to be phased out by the end of 1972. Following a report by Britain’s Royal College of Physicians in January 1971 on the number of deaths from cancer, a health campaign was instituted which included warnings on cigarette packages and antismoking commercials. Television cigarette advertising in the United States ceased as of January