The Issue of Women Smoking - Essay Example

It is estimated that approximately 41,000 women die prematurely each year as a result of smoking in the U.K. (Callum, 1995). Across the EU countries, the figure is estimated at 106,000. A total of 500,000 deaths per year is the estimated world total (WHO, 1992). A broad range of styles is offered to meet the expressed wants to be established as preferences by the different segments of the smoking population, for example, women and these include taste, packaging, and cigarette length, and these marketing strategies are targeted at women who are more concerned and worried about smoking but are less likely to quit.

They look for more situational cues to smoke (Brown and Williamson, 1979). Smoking rates follow underprivilege, and these include racial underprivileged. Statistics reflect that black women living in a society dominated by whites tend to have a higher smoking rate than their white counterparts. In America for example, the rates of lung cancer have increased faster among black women than among white women. Tobacco smoke is indiscriminative. Lung cancer, many other cancers, heart attacks, chronic lung diseases, stroke, respiratory diseases, and chronic bronchitis end the lives of up to 50% of smokers regardless of whether male or female.

There are however several serious health effects that are specific to women. An estimated 29% of adult deaths from cervical cancer are related to smoking. A U.S. study shows that smoking nearly doubles the odds of rheumatoid arthritis in women who don't have generic factors for the disease. It is also shown that smoking is a major risk factor for breast cancer among women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Smoking boosts carcinogens the cancer-causing chemicals in the blood that can cause mutations in the DNA of breast cells which, over time, lead to cancer.

Smoking and taking the pill in combination can increase the rate of heart disease by up to ten times (Pitman Medical, 1983). Smoking while pregnant can have drastic effects on the health of the baby. It substantially increases the health risks to the developing fetus, leading to premature births, great risks of mental retardation, miscarriage, low birth weight, and other serious health conditions in infants. Cigarette-smoking women have a 30%-50% higher risk of bladder cancer than men where the chemicals and carcinogens in the tobacco filter through the kidneys in the urine and damage the cells of the bladder lining (John Hopkins Medicine, 2006).

In conclusion, the enormous health hazards of tobacco are no secret and the substantial difficulties of smoking cessation are also well known; they are the reason that many women are still smoking despite being aware of the associated dangers. There is no "safe" cigarette and no safe dose of smoking. Passive exposure to cigarette smoke should be reduced to a bare minimum, ideally approaching zero. Also, pipes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and snuff should be avoided at any cost for a longer, healthier life.