Smoking health effects - Essay Example

Smoking Health Effects Introduction For many years, doctors in different parts of the world have united to extend the ban on smoking in public because of the detrimental effects it has on health. As documented by1, smoking is a significant risk factor of various diseases that cause death in most parts of the world. As a result of substantial medical research, using tobacco has been banned in some parts of the world. To render these findings in brief, smoking is linked to various effects such as heart diseases, lung cancer, stroke, miscarriages, premature birth, peptic ulcers, diabetes, vision problems, mouth cancer, cervix, as well as bladder and kidney problems. These results support the reason why smoking is banned in most countries for it is the leading cause of death globally. For instance, the British Medical association has called upon politicians to ban smoking through legislation that contests health issues caused by passive smoking. In response to this, they depict that smoking is also dangerous in its leading to secondhand smoking, thus enhancing negative effects to other people. In facts, cigarettes smoke consists of four thousand different chemicals, which damage the systems and cells of the human body. Out of this, there are at least eighty chemicals such as cadmium, benzene, arsenic, tar, formaldehyde, and cadmium, which hook the smoker, make him/her an addict and lead to getting cancer. Every time an individual inhales these substances, they get into the human body and cause problems ranging from hampering the cell function to cell death and hereditary changes, which eventually cause cancer. This is why smoking is the highly probable cause of roughly twenty five diseases. With regard of it, the aim of this paper is to discuss smoking health effects. As per 2 one of the most common health effect is heart disease, which is said to be the leading cause of death in the U.S. Globally, there are 1,690,000 deaths approximately every year that arise from heart diseases. The effect of smoking to the heart is so destructive that it frequently leads to death. As mentioned earlier, cigarette smoke has over four thousand chemicals, which are known to be poisonous and damaging to the heart. As a result, the heart supply becomes blocked; the hardening of arteries results in heart attack. With this in mind, there has been an increasing demand of a multifaceted and a peril heart bypass surgical treatment to smokers. Secondly, smoking increases the risk of getting stroke as a result of heart and brain arteries damage. Therefore, stroke is linked with heart diseases, which eventually causes high chances of getting stroke. Viewed in that perception, it stands out that smokers who suffer from heart disease are likely to get stroke, which diminishes the number of sufferers as compared with the victims from performing daily activities. Thirdly, smoking is a dangerous cause of lung cancer; there are approximately 860, 000 cases of lung cancer annually worldwide3. Of all such cases, smoking is responsible for 70% and increases a risk of affecting lung function. In reality, lung cancer is a complex disease, and the long term chance for survival of those who smoke is highly reduced. In most cases, it leads to death, and the survivors suffer from pulmonary diseases that eventually cause the increased number of premature deaths. Either way, lung cancer is a serious disease that increases chances of dying from it if accompanied by smoking. Thirdly, cigarette smoking has been linked to abdomen problems, causing duodenal and stomach ulcers, stomach, colon, and pancreas cancer. Using tobacco reduces abdomen functioning, increasing the risk of acquiring the above-mentioned disorders. These conditions progressively causes stomach problems, making it difficult for a person to eat, digestion problems, and irreversibly increasing risks of various cancers. These include liver, kidney, stomach, uterine, cervical, leukemia, and oral cancers 4. Fourthly, during pregnancy, smoking increases risks of miscarriage, as well as lower birth weight and growth retardation. Therefore, smoking by pregnant mothers is associated with high rates of infant respiratory illness such as pneumonia, colds, and bronchitis. It is vital to avoid smoking during pregnancy for the sake of infant’s health, as well as that of the mother. To ensure that pregnant mothers take full precaution as for their infants health, most hospitals adequately inform them on the harmful effect from smoking for children. Future mothers are to understand that smoking during pregnancy causes smaller infant measures, birth defects, stillborn infant, extremely high likelihood of smoking and predisposition to anxiety disorders as an adult. Fifthly, smoking has negative effect on male reproduction, causing sperm deformity, infertility, impotence, and reduced quantity and quality of sperm. In this case, infertility in marriage may lead to conflicts, particularly if there is a delay in child bearing. In female reproduction, women may encounter earlier menopause, period pains, cervix cancer, infertility, and impediment in conception. From this point, one can articulate that effects of smoking hold risk for the reproduction system of both men and women. Women hold addition risk as those who smoke during pregnancy increase risks of ectopic pregnancy, abruption placenta prevail, and untimely rupture of membranes. Thus, the list of smoking effects is endless; besides, there are new discoveries of the dangers that smoking presents. The above-mentioned health effects should discourage every smoker. Smoking has many adverse effects which have forced many countries to resort to drastic measures of banning smoking in public. With no doubt, the effects of smoking upon an individual’s body cannot be disregarded lightmindedly; therefore, most states require manufacturers to inform smokers about the danger of smoking. Most consumers are informed on the dangers of cigarette smoking and are hold accountable for results. Conclusion Finally, the paper has achieved its objective of briefly highlighting health effects of smoking. The paper has emphasized the well-known and scientifically-proven fact that cigarette smoking causes numerous diseases, most of which are lethal. As argued above, the list of harmful health effects from smoking is infinite; moreover, new discoveries of smoking dangers continue to be presented for public consideration. It is clear for everyone that the effects of smoking cannot be simply pushed aside; no wonder, most states have implemented policies that prohibit smoking in public; consumers have been educated on the dangers that smoking produces on a human body, etc. The measures to stop this modern plague can be taken at both global (governmental, federal, etc.) and local levels. At the level of school or local community, one person is powerful enough to influence people and make them change their mind as for this deplorable habit. It can be done even with the help of this humble informative paper that can facilitate the understanding of the problem scope. Work cited Britton, John. ABC of Smoking Cessation. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004. Print. Kabat, Geoffrey. Hyping health risks: environmental hazards in daily life and the science of epidemiology. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Print. Koop, Everett. Reducing The Health Consequences Of Smoking 25 Years Of Progress: Report Of The Surgeon General. New York: DIANE Publishing, 2004. Print. Owing, James. Smoking and health: new research. London: Nova Publishers, 2005. Print. Read More