The Effects of Smoking - Research Paper Example

Introduction People face different kinds of problems in their life like financial, business, social and health problems. They try to face these problems and to control stress and mental strain they start using drugs and smoking as a prop. However, drugs and smoking are not the solution of any problem, but are the reason of upcoming health and psychological problems. Smoking has been declared as a more severe risk to human life than other addictions. A question has been raised, as a society, what can we do to prevent tobacco from raging death on so many people? If we know these products are bad for us why they are not regulated? They can lead to numerous types of cancers and eventually cause death. The dilemma of tobacco is mainly focused on minority groups, such as women and African Americans. Support and leadership is needed to shift the focus off of these groups. However, even though there have been actions to prevent people from smoking in public places, the people have learned to segregate themselves somewhere else. The government according to Haviland is not responding enough to the problems that need addressing relating to tobacco .The government and its citizens know the issues being raised with tobacco products, but they choose to ignore. Speaking up can prevent many people from suffering Action must be taken silence must become our voices. Effects of Smoking A study carried out by Radzeviciene and Ostrauskas gives an overview about the relation of smoking and type II diabetes. It gives significant evidence that smoking is directly related to the disease. Similarly other studies also show that smoking has a profound effect on the incidence of diabetes prevailing in this world. A research done by Wannamethee et al shows that cigarette smoking is directly related to diabetes even if the confounders are adjusted. On the other hand the author in the article also gives forward the fact that the exact underlying cause or relation of smoking with diabetes has yet not been confirmed. However he suggests that the nicotine in cigarette smoking is the main cause which causes insulin resistance and thus leads to diabetes mellitus in individuals. The author asserts that nicotine has a direct effect on the sympathetic nervous system because of which the heart rates, serum cholesterol is increased. Moreover glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity is impaired in the body by smoking. Eliasson et al in his research tells that smoking initially show the symptom of insulin resistance. And after some time the endothelial function is also impaired. Other toxic substances in cigarette smoke can also harm the individual's normal physiological state of body and thus increase the stress on the body. This stress is a cause of diabetes mellitus in individuals (Radzeviciene & Ostrauskas 2009). The cigarette smoke results from the burning of tobacco and it contains Tar which is a brown substance and is made up of more than 4000 chemicals. Lung diseases are commonly caused by smoking which contains Tar, such as emphysema which is a long term, progressive disease of lung tissue which causes shortening of breath and the lung tissues are destroyed and become unable to support the proper physical structure and functions of the lungs. Cigarette smoking also causes chronic bronchitis, which is the inflammation of air passages to the lungs. The inflammation of the air ways makes way for excess production of mucus which blocks the passages for air making it difficult to respire (Dentener et al 2007). The cigarette smoke also affects our heart tissue and makes it weak. The cigarette smoke causes atherosclerosis which is the thickening and hardening of blood vessels by the deposition of fats on the vessel walls, which causes coronary heart diseases and strokes. The presence of carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke lowers the affinity of blood for oxygen lowering the quantity of oxygen carried by the blood to different parts of body and heart causing angina and heart attacks. Nicotine in the cigarette smoke has increasing effect on the blood pressure which at last causes heart attack (O Toole et al 2008). Smoking in women can have more disastrous effects as compared to men. Among the list of preventable causes of death in women, smoking is on top. Research evidence has shown that women are ten times more prone to the development of smoking associated lung can as compared to men. The level of addiction is higher in girls who start smoking at an early age than those who start it later in their life. The most dreadful effects of smoking are seen on the reproductive health of women. Smoking has been related to an earlier menopause, pregnancy complications and in some cases total infertility. The effects of continuing smoking during pregnancies are seen in the form of miscarriages, low birth weight infants, stillbirths, preterm deliveries and very higher rates of infant mortality. The incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) increases manifolds in children of mother who are smokers. Moreover, chances that the child of a pregnant smoker will be mentally retarded are considerable high. Second hand smoke badly affects the breathing of children affected with asthma. Among women who smoke, there is an increased risk of emphysema, bronchitis and pneumonia (Cordry, 2001). Apart from the health effects, smoking also causes a number of social and economical effects. It is not possible to translate all the damaging effects of smoking like invalidism, suffering, early deaths and disability into monetary terms, however there are a number of areas where the effects can be calculated in financial terms. These may include loss of productivity, increased expenses on medical care and damages caused by fires which erupted as a result of accidents due to smoking (Food & Agriculture Organization of United States, 1989). A large number of smoking related deaths occur in child-rearing population age group. As a result, government expenditure increases on insurance taxes for social security survivors. According to one estimate, when 44,000 males and 19,000 females died of smoking, 31000 were left fatherless and 12000 motherless, the government had to bear an expense of around 1.4 billion dollars in the 1994 (ORITC, 2003). During the past few decades, smoking has been adapted by a large number of humans throughout the planet. Willingly or unwillingly, individuals start smoking at an early stage of their life, not knowing the long term consequences of this habit. With the passage of time it becomes an addiction and therefore the vast majority of smokers fail to quit the habit. During this process, smoking continues to play havoc with the lives of individuals themselves and also with the lives of their families. Apart from the health damages, financial damages and the social damages which result from damage to family structure continue to occur. There is a need to increase the awareness of general public regarding the harmful effects of smoking, so that the harmful effects of smoking can be overcome. With the development in the world, the human mind has broadened its perspectives. The spread of knowledge has enabled a person to know how human beings have evolved as well as to understand their position and rights in the society. Gone are the times when people used to be suppressed by their powerful counterparts. With this evolution the recognition of the self and civil liberties have been understood. People have reached to levels where they believe that they possess complete control of their lives to an extent that they advocate euthanasia with an argument that they have the right to choose death over pain. In such a period the development of laws to ban personal activities can prove to be very offensive. This is the case with the proposal of ban on smoking in public places. The state has the right to create laws for the betterment of its people but when these laws intrude the personal issues of a person, it can be a reason for argument. The state is chosen by the people to take care of their needs but by imposing bans in private issues, the state is actually interfering with matters that are beyond its scope of work and the opponents of this ban have very convincing thoughts regarding this issue. Conclusion The primary focus of the government should be on the reduction of smokers to first create a smoke free environment but it should also secondarily work towards ways and methods to prevent non smokers from smoking. Increasing the number of taxes on cigarettes as well as the implementation of bans can prove to be useful for the purpose of discouraging the smokers from smoking and this fact has been proven as many smokers have quit smoking following these regulations. On the other hand proper education regarding the harmful effects of smoking among certain age groups can also prove to reduce the number of non smokers from smoking. Parents of school going children should be advised and taught to keep a proper watch on the children and discourage them from smoking. Smoking is a global issue which alone accounts for the death of 440,000 people annually in the United States. It poses health risks not only for those individuals who smoke but also for those who come into contact with this smoke. Many countries across the globe have taken a stand against this problem and states are justified to take measures to limit the spread of this wide spread issue (Smith 2004). References Radzeviciene, L., & Ostrauskas, R. (January 01, 2009). Smoking habits and the risk of type 2 diabetes: A case-control study. Diabetes & Metabolism, 35, 3, 192 Yanbaeva DG, MA Dentener, EC Creutzberg, G Wesseling, and EF Wouters. "Systemic Effects of Smoking." Chest. 131. 5 (2007): 1557-66.Top of FormBottom of ForTop of FormBottom of FoTop of ForBottom of Form O'Toole TE, DJ Conklin, and A Bhatnagar. "Environmental Risk Factors for Heart Disease." Reviews on Environmental Health. 23. 3 (2008) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19119685 Cordry, Harold V. Tobacco: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO,2001. Print, p155, 237. International Development Research Centre (Canada), Université de Montréal., & Research for International Tobacco Control. (2003). At what cost?: The economic impact of tobacco use on national health systems, societies and individuals : a summary of methods and findings. RITC monograph series, no. 1. Ottawa [Ont.: Research for International Tobacco Control = Recherche pour la lutte mondiale contre le tabac. The Economic Significance of Tobacco. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1989. Print, p21. Smith, R. A., V. Cokkinides, and H. J. Eyre. "American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Cancer, 2004." CA -ATLANTA-. 54 (2004): 41-52. Read More