Smoking cigarettes is deadly - Essay Example

3rd May Smoking Cigarettes in Deadly The effects of smoking are both serious and in many cases deadly according to Martin, 2008. The Surgeon General Report (2010) states that nicotine is the key chemical compound within cigarettes that causes addiction. Therefore, people find it hard to quit smoking, which makes them increasingly susceptible to its harmful effects, which this exemplification essay aims to highlight. Every year, 443,000 deaths in America are smoking-related, accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths (Surgeon General Report, 2010).

Over half of all long-term smokers eventually die of a smoking-related disease. Smoking affects many parts of the body; both internally, e.g. increased risk of infertility, impotence and reduced sperm count, and externally, e.g. dry skin, smelly breath and stained teeth. In the short-term, smokers are prone to suffer from a shortness of breath as less oxygen gets transported to the lungs. Long-term, there is increased risk of respiratory problems, e.g. chronic bronchitis, emphysema and chronic asthma.

Smokers also have lower level of antioxidants in the blood to repair damaged cells than non-smokers. This makes them less immune to viruses, which weaken their natural defences. The Surgeon General Report (2010) also highlights that thousands of non-smokers die each year from heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory infections due to breathing in second hand smoke. The scientific link between health risks and second hand smoke is now so strong that a number of countries including the UK have banned all forms of smoking in public places such as restaurants and cinemas.

I now wish to turn my attention to 2 of the most well known harmful effects of smoking. Firstly, 85% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking and Martin (2005) states that it’s the leading cause of cancer death amongst smokers. This is due to there being over 7,000 harmful chemicals within in a single cigarette (Surgeon General Report, 2010), of which 69 are known to cause cancer. In America alone, an estimated 171,900 lung cancer cases are diagnosed each year, killing over 157,200 (Martin, 2005).

Men and women who smoke are 18 times more likely on average to develop lung cancer compared with their non-smoking counterparts (Surgeon General Report, 2004). The British National Health Service also reports that smoking causes an increased risk of heart disease. This is because a person’s lungs fill up with carbon monoxide every time they smoke, which leads to the body becoming short of oxygen, and so produces more red blood cells to compensate. Therefore blood is thicker, which places increased strain on the heart, thereby increasing the risk of circulatory problems and heart disease.

Martin (2010) claims that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the USA amongst smokers. Globally, there were 1.7 million deaths related to cardiovascular disease in 2000. In conclusion, the evidence presented within this paper indicates that smokers are more likely to die young and suffer from an increasing number of respiratory, heart and lung diseases compared with their non-smoking counterparts. Researching this topic has put me off from ever smoking. References Martin, Terry (2005) Cancer Statistics: Smoking and Cancer – Statistics for the US.

Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/cancerstats.htm Martin, Terry (2008) The Effects of Smoking on Human Health. Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/CigaretteSmoke.htm Martin, Terry (2010) The Health Risks of Smoking: How Smoking Harms Us From Head to Toe. Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccorelateddiseases/a/smokingrisks.htm NHS (2008) Your Health.

Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://www.northoftyne.nhs.uk/your-health/stop-smoking-1/the-effects-of-smoking US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health (2004). Cited in Martin, Terry (2005) Cancer Statistics: Smoking and Cancer – Statistics for the US. Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/cancerstats.

htm US Department of Health and Human Services (2010). A report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioural Basis for Smoking Attributable Disease: Executive Summary. Accessed on 3rd May 2011. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/tobaccosmoke/report/executivesummary.pdf