The Effects of Cigarette Smoking - Research Paper Example

Hazardous effects of cigarette smoking Cigarette smoking is an amusing and dangerous habit that human beings have cultivated. It is amusing because smoking is not a ‘need’ of the body. It is mostly a cultivated habit by imitating others and to have a feeling of belonging to the society. In the ancient period, tobacco has been used by Indian cultures of America to have hallucination experience, to treat diseases and to offer it as a tradition to the guests(Sessa, Conte, Meroni & Battini 2000 pp1-2). However, today, the meaning of smoking has completely changed. Cigarette smoking is considered a fashionable and current trend. People are becoming the addicts without really knowing that cigarette smoking is the cause of most of the deaths in United States Of America. Cigarette smoking has major negative effects on the health of human being. It affects the emotional, social, psychological and mental development of a person. Studies have shown that exposure to smoke leads to underdevelopment of brain and other organs of the body and hence is a major cause of concern for the society. Smoking is harmful to every organ of the body. The most important thing to be noted is that smoking causes damage to lungs rapidly. This creates problem in breathing and hence makes life miserable (Carmona 2004). Smoking is also related to the development of lung cancer. Women who smoke suffer from pregnancy complications and also affect the health of the baby. The effects of smoking on children are disastrous. Children are passive smokers and hence are silent victims of the bad habits that adults have cultivated. The smoke that is exhaled contains the same toxic substances as the inhaled smoke and so has a bad effect on people who inhale it through the air. Children are victims as they are not aware of the negative effects and even if they are aware, they cannot do anything as they cannot ask their parents to stop smoking. (Rubin, Voss, Derksen, Quenzer & Gateley 1996. p.23) The reports and the studies conducted to understand the effect of cigarette smoking on the health of human beings have also revealed the plight of the people who do not smoke. Studies have shown that people who do not smoke but who are exposed to the cigarette smoke suffer the same health hazards as the people who smoke do. The percentage of the health risk for people who do not smoke might be less than that of people who smoke but the fact remains that they are affected. Smoking was the activity associated mostly with men. However, the modernization of the society and women taking active part in social development have led women to pick up the habit of smoking fast. Also, the notion that smoking reduces the weight and keeps the body slim has led women taking up to smoking. However, smoking has proved to be more damaging and dangerous to women than men. The results of the studies are disappointing and demands immediate steps to be taken to stop people from smoking cigarette. Women and smoking: (American Lung Association 2009) Women are getting addicted to smoking more and more. It was found that in the year 2007, 19.8 million women, which was 17.4% of the women population , smoked in the United States. In the earlier part of the 20th century, women did not smoke actively. However, with modern lifestyle, adapting to social habits and pressure to keep themselves abreast with men, women have somehow become a victim of smoking habit. Women have taken to smoking so much that the gap between the number of men and women who smoke have decreased over a period of time. However, women are facing more challenges and responsibilities as a result of smoking. Woman is a central figure in the family. Her health matters a lot as it directly affects the children and the family as a whole. Women who smoke not only put their own life in danger but also create a risk to the health of their children. Numerous studies have found that smoking has a very bad effect on the physical, mental and emotional health of women and also has harmful effects on the children when women who are pregnant smoke. Some of the negative effects of smoking are as follows: 1. Smoking is related to cause of cancer and it is one of the major challenges of human beings today. Smoking is directly responsible for 80% of women losing their lives because of lung cancer each year. In the year 1987, lung cancer was a major cause of deaths among women in the United States. 2. Women who smoke are thirteen percent more likely to lose their lives from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) compared to women who never smoked. Smoking is causing hazardous effects on the health of women. It was estimated that in the year 2008, 71, 030 women would lose their life due to lung cancer and bronchus cancer which are caused by smoking. This number shows how serious and harmful are the effects of smoking. 3. Year 2005 was the sixth year in a row where the number of women who lost their lives due to COPD was more than the number of men. The sad thing is, more then 90% of the deaths caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, emphysema and chronic bronchitis deaths each year are directly caused by smoking. 4. Different types of cancers like uterine cervix, pancreas, kidney, oral cavity, pharynx larynx and esophagus also are related to the habit of smoking. Women who smoke have more risk of developing these cancers than women who do not smoke. 5. Smoking also affects the condition of the bones. Smoking weakens the bones and causes them to lose its functioning power. Women who smoke have lower bone density compared to women who do not smoke. This increases the chances of having increased risk of hip fracture and other bone related injuries amongst the women who smoke. 6. Every woman desires to look young and beautiful for all her life. To look beautiful, young and healthy one has to cultivate healthy lifestyle. Women who smoke develop wrinkles and sagging of the skin which makes women to look less attractive and prematurely aged. Even though advertising industry has done a fantastic job in making women to associate smoking with qualities like slimness, independence and attractiveness, the fact remains that smoking, in fact, is dangerous to these qualities. How can cultivating a habit like smoking that causes diseases and spreads unhealthy air make you feel attractive and independent? 7. It is estimated that smoking is the cause of 173, 940 women losing their lives every year. 8. Smoking is not only related to the diseases of respiratory organs but also is known to increase the risk of heart disease. Women who smoke are twice more likely to suffer from heart related problems than women who do not smoke. Effects of smoking during pregnancy : Women are the source of life. Women who are pregnant are responsible for the emotional, psychological and physical health of their children. Woman’s physical, mental and emotional state affects the baby growing inside her. For a baby to born healthy and happy, it is very necessary for a mother to be healthy and happy. That is the reason women who are pregnant are advised to rest, watch ‘feel good’ programs and listen to soothing and beautiful music. All that the mother experiences during pregnancy is indirectly experienced by the baby growing inside her. This fact makes us to understand the bad effects that a injurious habit of smoking can have on the child. Science is in an advanced stage. Scientific studies have found that women who smoke when they are pregnant causes great harm to the physical and mental health of their babies. The bad news is, the harmful effect does not reduce if a woman decides to reduce the number of cigarettes that she smokes. The following are the harmful effects of smoking on a child when women smoke during pregnancy. 1. Smoking has a bad effect on the functioning of the different organs of the body. It creates disruptions in the flow of oxygen to the body. Smoking during pregnancy prevents almost 25 percent of oxygen from reaching the placenta. 2. Mothers who smoke can pass nicotine to their children through breast milk. Smoking during pregnancy is known to create many complications in the process of delivery and health of the babies. Ten out of hundred babies lose their lives due to their mother smoking. Smoking during pregnancy is found to responsible for approximately thirty percent of low-birth weight in babies and up to fourteen percent of babies born prematurely. 3. Exposure to cigarette smoke is very dangerous to health. Infants and children come in contact with their mother the most. Infants are most of the times around their mother and hence are affected a lot if they are exposed to cigarette smoke. Because of inhalation of the smoke exhaled by their mothers, infants are likely to develop the respiratory diseases like colds, bronchitis and asthma. It has been found that mothers who smoke are responsible for the development of asthma in their children. 4. The habit of smoking does not only affects health of the mother, the child and the family but also affects the financial expenditure of the family. Due to the habit of smoking, the neonatal health care cost has been estimated to be $366 million per year which comes to $740 per mother who smokes. 5. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy leads to decrease in the volume of milk. Mothers who smoke are unable to breast feed their babies for adequate amount of time. The study conducted in 1998 found that the mothers who smoke were able to breast feed their babies for approximately 77.9 days compared to 145.0 days by mothers who did not smoke. This shows how harmful is the effect of smoking for children and mother both (Briggs, Freeman & Yaffe 2008. p350). Smoking and passive smokers: People who smoke not only cause danger to their own lives but also create dangers for the lives of people around them. Passive smokers are those people who do not actively smoke but get to inhale the smoke exhaled by the people who smoke cigarettes. The smoke exhaled by people who smoke cigarette is called as mainstream cigarette smoke and the smoke released from the tip of the cigarette is called sidestream smoke. Experiments have found that out of 4000 chemicals contained in the cigarette smoke, 40 are responsible for development of cancer in the human beings. Most of the chemicals released through the cigarette smoke are toxic( Crocker 2005). As the cigarette smoke has a tendency to travel in the air and pollute the air, it creates health hazards for people who do not smoke but end up inhaling the smoke through the air they breathe. The toxic agents released in the air by cigarette smoke are found to cause lung cancer among the people who do not smoke (Shepherd 1982. p95). Study conducted by Miller in the year 1978 found that the wives of the men who did not smoke lived four year longer then the wives of the men who smoked. The studies have shown that people who inhale the smoke released in air are at great risk of getting a heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Children are the most innocent people who are getting affected by exposure to the toxins released by the people who smoke. Passive smoking does not only affect the health of children but also develops emotional and psychological maladjustments in the adulthood (Mackay, Eriksen and World Health Organization 2002. p34). Women who do not smoke but who are exposed to passive smoke are likely to cause harm to their babies as it affects her fetus and the harmful effects are multiplied after the birth of the child. Nicotine is known to affect the cardiovascular and central nervous system ( Ruddon 2007. p103) Cigarette Smoking and loss of human life: The number of deaths caused by cigarette smoking every year are shocking. It is estimated that 0.1 billion people lost their lives due to cigarette smoking in the 20th century. This figure is estimated to grow 10 times in the 21st century. The number is increasing because along with men, even women have started smoking (Mackay, Eriksen and World Health Organization 2002. p36) . Cigarette companies spend in millions to attract people who are young and do not smoke to the habit of smoking by making smoking look like cool and ‘in’ habit. Cigarette smoking kills almost 400,000 Americans and 60,000 French people every year. Smoking is the reason behind 80% of lung cancer, 25% of heart attacks and 80% of bronchitis and emphysema cases. The hazards of smoking are also understood from the fact that people from China, who until now hardly suffered from heart diseases, are experiencing increase in the heart attack rates with the cigarette smoking gaining popularity in the society ( Schulz-Allen 1997. p178). Effects of smoking on mental and psychological abilities of children: Cigarette smoking affects not only the physical health of a person but also affects the mental and emotional health of a person. Tobacco is popular as a drug that reduces anxiety, increases mental alertness, reduces boredom and makes the one who smokes feel fresh and energetic ( Schulz-Allen 1997. p177). However, scientific studies have found that these ‘positive’ effects are temporary in nature and have no long lasting positive effect on the functions of brain or the body. In fact, the studies have shown that people who smoke and people who get exposed to the smoke develop many psychological and behavioral problems later on. Study conducted by Roy regarding the effects of nicotine on the brain development shows that if women smoke during their pregnancies, their children suffer from the damages to the brain cell quality due to the exposure to nicotine. The damage leads to children experiencing behavioral problems like hyperactivity, decrease in attention span, inadequate development of IQ and learning disabilities (Roy & Sabherwal 1994. pp411-21). The studies conducted over a period of time have revealed a strong relation between children unable to perform to their abilities and exposure to smoke. Study conducted by Judy Makin and Peter Fried concluded that children of mothers who did not smoke show better performance in the math abilities, speech, language skills , intelligence and visual and spatial abilities. The study also found that children of the mothers who were passive smokers also suffered from the same negative effects as the children of the mothers who were active smokers. Mothers who are exposed to the cigarette smoke either directly or indirectly experience behavior challenges with their children two times more than the mothers who never smoked and were not exposed to passive smoking. This shows that passive smoking is as dangerous as active smoking (Makin, Fried & Watkinson 1991. pp5-12). The children of the mothers who smoke suffer from different malfunctioning of the sensory organs. Children who are exposed to smoke develop middle ear diseases ( Mackay, Eriksen & WHO 2002. p34). This leads to children facing challenges with their listening abilities. For better performance in school, auditory ability is an important quality. Children cannot grasp the subject matter properly if they suffer from hearing problem. Children of the mothers who smoke and mothers who are passive smokers were found to have problems in listening skills and processing the auditory related information(McCartney, Fried & Watkinson 1994. pp305-333). The studies conducted on the children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy and after the delivery shows that smoking is injurious not only to the health of the adults, but also to the health of the children. Children have a habit of learning from their parents. They imitate adults when they are growing up and try to be like their parents. Parents are role model for their children and so parents who smoke are creating a bad and unhealthy example in front of their children. Tobacco causes more deaths than the AIDS, road accidents, legal drugs, illegal drugs, murder and suicide combined ( Mackay, Eriksen & WHO 2002. p36). It is high time that people make themselves aware of the disastrous effects that cigarette smoking is having on their lives. Companies who make cigarettes and sell them are enjoying the profits in millions of dollars. However, what they are selling is death and disease. It is the choice left to people. People have a decision to make. They can either choose life by not smoking or choose death by smoking. Moreover, a cigarette packet can never be wrong. It says, ‘Cigarette smoking is injurious to health’. References : American Lung Association. (2009).Smoking And Women Fact Sheet. Retrieved June 10, 2009 from http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=33572 Briggs,G., Freeman,R. & Yaffe,S. (2008). Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation: A Reference Guide to Fetal and Neonatal Risk Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Carmona, R. (2004). The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2004 Retrieved June 10,2009 from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/speeches/SgrSmoking_05272004.htm Crocker , W. (2005) Toxic elements in cigarette smoke Chemical Science, 2005 (12) Mackay,J., Eriksen,M. & World Health Organization (2002). The tobacco atlas World Health Organization Makin,J., Fried,P., & Watkinson,B. (1991). A Comparison of Active and Passive Smoking During Pregnancy: Long Term Effects Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 13(1) 5-12 McCartney, J., Fried,P., & Watkinson,B. (1994). Central Auditory Processing in School-Age Children Prenatally Exposed to Cigarette Smoke Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 16(3) 305-333  Roy, T. & Sabherwal,U. (1994) Effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on the morphogenesis of somatosensory cortex. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 16(4)411-21 Rubin,R., Voss,C., Derksen,D., Quenzer,R. & Gateley,A. (1996) Medicine: a primary care approach Elsevier Health Sciences Ruddon, R. (2007) Cancer biology Oxford University Press US. New York Schulz-Aellen,M (1997). Aging and human longevity Birkhäuser. Boston. Sessa, A., Conte,F., Meroni, M. & Battini, G. (2000) Cigarette smoking and the kidney Karger Publishers Shephard,R. (1982). The risks of passive smoking Taylor & Francis Read More