When tobacco in inhaled, the addictive drug nicotine passes rapidly throughout the lungs into the bloodstream. It reaches the brain within a few seconds and makes the smoker feel more relaxed and calm. But while the smoker is feeling better, the ingredients of tobacco are actually causing the harm. There are a number of reasons why a person might start smoking e.g. peer pressure from friends/relatives, stress, or bullying. Once a person begins smoking there is no turning back because the drug that cigarette contains makes them addicted to smoking.
Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide – which is the main gas in cigarette smoke. There are also over 4000 other chemicals found in a cigarette smoke e.g. ammonia, tar, pyridine, ethylamine and nicotine. Nicotine is a component of cigarette smoke that causes physical addiction. It makes the heart beat faster and also makes the blood vessels become narrower, so it is harder for the heart to pump blood through. At the same time carbon monoxide, which is released as tobacco burns, deprives the heart of the oxygen it needs.
Tar is a sticky brown substance that contains cancer causing chemicals. As cigarette smoke passes through the lungs it leaves a trace of tar which acts on the lung cells which start to multiply quickly, this is the beginning of lung cancer. Diseases that are common for smokers are bronchitis and emphysema. Bronchitis is inflammation of the lungs, emphysema is a condition which can destroy part of a lung. People with this condition struggle for breath because they have less room to take in air.
Smoking kills over 120,000 people a year in the UK and is one of the main causes of cancer and heart disease. It is estimated that more people will die from smoking rather than having an accident or being murdered. Smoking causes 84% of deaths from lung cancer and 83% of deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease including bronchitis. Smoking causes 46,500 deaths from cancer a year in the UK.
It is estimated that the death toll from smoking will rise to 10 million a year over the next 3 decades because of the increased smoking rates in developing nations. Many people have strong views against smoking, because smokers aren’t only destroying their lives but they are damaging others by a term we use known as passive smoking. Passive smoking is breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke.
The smoker inhales only15% of the smoke from a cigarette - the rest goes into the surrounding air and other people can breathe it in. Children and unborn babies health can be damaged due to their parents smoking. Unborn babies could be born small and weak and children could grow up to have lung or heart problems, they are also more likely to develop breathing problems as an adult.
The UK government’s Independent Scientific Committee on smoking and health has estimated that several hundred non smokers die each year from lung cancer caused by passive smoking. Not only does it cost smokers a lot of money but it also costs the government a lot of money to pay for the damage caused. Treating illnesses and diseases caused by smoking are estimated to cost the NHS up to £1.7 billion every year.
There are some methods that can help individuals stop smoking e.g. there are nicotine patches, which are applied to the skin. The nicotine is slowly absorbed through the skin and enters the bloodstream. Over time the nicotine dose is decreased which helps stop the craving of nicotine. There are plenty of methods on how to stop smoking, but it all depends on the person who wants to quit!
