[Show all top banners]

wtf
Replies to this thread:

More by wtf
What people are reading
Subscribers
:: Subscribe
Back to: Stories / Essays / Literature Refresh page to view new replies
 Smoking Is Not Injurious To Health: A Visceral Anatomy
[VIEWED 2273 TIMES]
SAVE! for ease of future access.
Posted on 12-29-07 2:46 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

nice flow, proper selection of words... good writing overall !!

p.s. i dint pay much attn to the content!


 
Posted on 12-29-07 7:28 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

source: http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/risks.htm

So what are the risks? Here's what tobacco's critics say:

CANCER

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette smoking is responsible for 151,322 cancer deaths annually in the United States. Most of those -- 116,920 -- are from lung cancer. The CDC says men who smoke are 22 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. Women who smoke are 12 times more likely to die from the disease.

Statistical studies have long shown that people who don't smoke live longer than people who do, and scientists have seen statistically the correlation between smoking and incidences of lung cancer since the 1950s.

But a study earlier this year by Gerd Pfeifer of the Beckman Research Institute pinpointed specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke that target parts of a gene already known to be prominent in some cancers.

Pfeifer wrote in Science that cigarette smoke causes changes in the gene p53, which protects against cancer when normal but promotes cancer growth when mutated.

Another study, published by the American Cancer Society, said that low-tar cigarettes offered no relief from the potential of cancer, and in fact were responsible for a type of cancer that reaches deeper into lung tissue.

Other cancers are also affected by cigarette smoke. An American Cancer Society researcher reported earlier this year that smoking increased men's risk of dying of prostate cancer, while other studies have linked tobacco use to increased risk of other cancers, including throat, breast and bowel cancer.

Smoking Related Cancers:

Adult Acute Leukemia
Adult Chronic Leukemia
Cervical Cancer
Esophagus Cancer
Laryngeal Cancer
Lung Cancer
Kidney Cancer
Oropharyngeal Cancer
Pancreas Cancer
Stomach Cancer
Urinary Bladder

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

Smoking also has been linked time and again to cardiovascular diseases. Among these, the biggest killer is heart disease: according to the CDC, smoking triples the risk of dying from heart disease among middle-aged men and women.

Studies also show an increased risk of death from stroke, aneurysms, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular illnesses.

RESPIRATORY DISEASES

Smoking is cited as a risk for dying of pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema. The CDC says people who smoke increase their risk of death from bronchitis and emphysema by nearly 10 times.

OTHER ILLNESSES

A report recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggested that smoking increased the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) by more than three times.

Studies have pointed to smoking as a risk in vision loss among older people, mental impairment later in life, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

EFFECT ON PREGNANCY

Pregnant women who smoke can pass nicotine and carbon monoxide to their baby through the placenta. Research indicates this can prevent the baby from getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs to grow -- potentially leading to fetal injury, premature birth, or low birth weight. According to the American Lung Association, smoking during pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of low birthweight babies, up to 14 percent of premature deliveries, and about 10 percent of all infant deaths.

A mother who smokes can also pass nicotine to her baby through her breast milk.

SECONDHAND SMOKE

The studies didn't just point to the ill effects of smoking on those who smoke -- non-smokers, too, are apparently affected by the smoke from their friends, family members and strangers who light up in their presence.

A steady stream of reports documented the statistical risks of contracting cancer or suffering from heart disease, even if you've never put a cigarette to your lips.

The American Heart Association last fall released a seven-year study showing that never-smoking spouses of smokers have more than a 20 percent greater chance of death from coronary heart disease than those who have never smoked who live with non-smokers. That study gave more impetus to the drive to make workplaces and other public areas smoke-free.

The effects of smoking are hard on the children of smokers as well, the studies say. Dr. Claude Hanet of the St. Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, said earlier this year that a baby born to a smoking mother "should be considered an ex-smoker."

Hanet's study cautioned that cigarette smoke was more detrimental with decreasing age.

And a University of Birmingham, England, study, published in the British Journal of Cancer showed a possible link between fathers who smoked and an increased incidence of cancers in their children, while studies in the U.S. showed a possible link between smoking and DNA damage.

ADDICTION

Of all the diseases associated with smoking, addiction is perhaps the one that receives the least attention. But President Clinton declared nicotine an addictive drug last August. In March, the Liggett Group, makers of Chesterfield and Lark brand cigarettes, admitted that cigarettes were addictive and cause cancer and agreed to pay about $750 million total to 22 states that had filed suit to force tobacco companies to pay for Medicaid for smoking-related illnesses.

Scott Harshbarger, the Massachusetts attorney general and president of the National Association of Attorneys General, told reporters that the Liggett deal "will produce information that indicates major tobacco companies were fully aware that the product they were selling is addictive, that the product they were selling had great impact on public health."

Other tobacco companies are clearly none too keen on the Liggett deal. For them, nicotine remains what they call a harmless flavor enhancement.

BENEFITS?

Despite the weight of the data about the ills of tobacco smoke, research also shows some occasional benefit from smoking. Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, reported that something in cigarette smoke lowers the levels of an enzyme known as MAO B.

This coincides with an increase in dopamine, known for years to be the brain chemical responsible for part of nicotine's pleasure.

Smokers, say the researchers, may have a lower risk of Parkinson's disease, because the nerve disease is aggravated by shortages of dopamine.

And while smoking may be a cause of dementia, it also could be sharpening the mind. University of California-San Diego researchers presented a study to the Society for Neuroscience earlier this year showing that smoking cigarettes sharpens short-term learning and memory among young people.

Researchers in the study, however, cautioned that such benefits don't outweigh the risks of more serious ailments.

ASHES TO ASHES

According to the CDC, 400,000 Americans die each year because they smoke cigarettes, making it the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States.

Quitting doesn't necessarily help, according to another University of Birmingham study -- at least not if the smoker waits too long. Stroke risk is high for up to 20 years after a smoker quits, according to that study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The CDC says that on average, if you smoke, you will die seven years earlier than if you don't.

What is the human toll of smoking?

Number of deaths per year attributed to tobacco in the United States: 400,000 *.

Number of deaths per hour: 45.

Number of deaths due to:
Cardiovascular disease: Almost 180,000. *
Obstructive lung disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema: 65,000 *.

Risk for a smoker dying of lung cancer, compared to a never-smoker:
Male: 22 times
Female: 12 times
Number of scientific studies on the health effects of tobacco, approximate: 50,000.

Percentage of United States adults who smoked in 1993: 25 *

Percentage in 1965: 42 *

Number of years of life smoking costs the average smoker: 7 *

Number of identified carcinogens in tobacco smoke: 43

Estimated 1993 health care costs due to smoking, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: total $50 billion. This figure includes:
$26.9 billion for hospital costs
$15.5 billion for doctors
$4.9 billion in nursing home costs
$1.8 billion for prescription drugs
$900 million for home-health care expenditures

Number of times "addiction" is listed on compulsory cigarette warnings (in United States): 0.

Marketing and promotional budget of tobacco companies, (1993): $6 billion.

Number of cigarette advertisements this money bought that mention addiction, habituation, dependence or the difficulty most smokers experience in quitting: 0.

Revenues of the U.S. tobacco companies, 1991: $32 billion *.

Percentage of adult smokers who had tried cigarettes by 18th birthday: 80.

Percentage of smokers age 12 to 17, according to a 1992 Gallup poll, who want to quit: 66.

Percentage of NCAA baseball athletes who use "smokeless tobacco": 57 (source: "The marketing of nicotine addiction).

Other sources
* American Cancer Society fact sheet "Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health ... and the Answers.

Smoking is a greater cause of death and disability that any single disease, says the World Health Organisation.

According to their figures, it is responsible for approximately 3.5 million deaths worldwide every year - or about 7% of all deaths. Tobacco smoking is a known or probable cause of approximately 25 diseases, and even the WHO says that its impact on world health is not fully assessed.

Heart attack and stroke

UK studies show that smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers. Tobacco contributes to the hardening of the arteries, which can then become blocked and starve the heart of bloodflow, causing the attack. Often, smokers who develop this will require complex and risky heart bypass surgery. If you smoke for a lifetime, there is a 50% chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related - half of all these deaths will be in middle age. Smoking also increases the risk of having a stroke.

Lung problems

Another primary health risk associated with smoking are lung cancer, which kills more than 20,000 people in the UK every year. US studies have shown that men who smoke increase their chances of dying from the disease by more than 22 times. Women who smoke increase this risk by nearly 12 times. Lung cancer is a difficult cancer to treat - long term survival rates are poor. Smoking also increases the risk of oral, uterine, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, and cervical cancers, and leukaemia. Another health problem associated with tobacco is emphysema, which, when combined with chronic bronchitis, produces chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The lung damage which causes emphysema is irreversible, and makes it extremely difficult to breathe.

Harm to children

Smoking in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, is associated with lower birthweight babies, and inhibited child development. Smoking by parents following the birth is linked to sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia. Nicotine, an ingredient of tobacco, is listed as an addictive substance by the US authorities. Although the health risks of smoking are culmulative, giving up can yield health benefits regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time they have been smoking.

Future impact

By 2020, the WHO expects the worldwide death toll to reach 10 million, causing 17.7% of all deaths in developed countries. There are believed to be 1.1 billion smokers in the world, 800,000 of them in developing countries.

Smokers at Much More at Risk for the Following:

Muscle injuries

Angina (20 x risk)

Body pain

Nystagmus (abnormal eye movements)

Ocular Histoplasmosis (fungal eye infection)

Osteoporosis (in both sexes)

Cataract (2 x risk)

Cataract, posterior subcapsular (3 x risk)

Colon Polyps

Pneumonia

Depression

Psoriasis (2 x risk)

Diabetes (Type 2, non-insulin dependent)

Skin wrinkling (2 x risk)

Stomach ulcer

Influenza

Rheumatoid arthritis (for heavy smokers)

Impotence (2 x risk)

Optic Neuropathy (loss of vision, 16 x risk)

Tobacco Amblyopia (loss of vision)

Ligament injuries

Tooth loss

Tuberculosis

Function impaired in smokers:

Ejaculation (volume reduced)

Sperm count reduced

Fertility (30% lower in women)

Sperm motility impaired

Immune System (impaired)

Sperm less able to penetrate the ovum

Menopause (onset 1.74 years early on average)

Sperm shape abnormalities increased

Symptoms worse in smokers:

Asthma

Graves' disease (over-active thyroid gland)

Chronic rhinitis (chronic inflammation of the nose)

Multiple Sclerosis

Diabetic retinopathy (eyes)

Optic Neuritis (eyes)

Disease more severe or persistent in smokers:

Common cold

Pneumonia

Crohn's Disease (chronic inflamed bowel)

Tuberculosis

Influenza






 
Posted on 12-30-07 12:14 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 
 
Posted on 12-30-07 8:01 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

Who is the one to say these beautiful ciggartes causes diseses ...They look real pretty .


 
Posted on 12-31-07 12:12 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

Unanimously, cigarettes are the most important and beautiful human invention. I miss the smoke and the pleasure. I am thinking of starting again.

Where as cigars are not much harmful as cigarettes, as they are au natural, they are too expensive. One of my favorites, Davidoff and Cohiba ( the cigarillos kind) and Zino Silver. They are not very expensive for occasional indulgences. Best I have known, Arturo Fuente, Rocky Patel, Gurkha, Macanudo, Cohiba, MonteCristo, Camacho, CAO, Punch, Ashton, Partagas, Cusano, Romeo y Julieta etc. I have indulged in an occasional pleasures of quite a few ones from the aforementined list, but hands down, they cannot beat the cigarette.


 


Please Log in! to be able to reply! If you don't have a login, please register here.

YOU CAN ALSO



IN ORDER TO POST!




Within last 7 days
Recommended Popular Threads Controvertial Threads
मन भित्र को पत्रै पत्र!
TPS Work Permit/How long your took?
Does the 180 day auto extension apply for TPS?
Travelling to Nepal - TPS AP- PASSPORT
NOTE: The opinions here represent the opinions of the individual posters, and not of Sajha.com. It is not possible for sajha.com to monitor all the postings, since sajha.com merely seeks to provide a cyber location for discussing ideas and concerns related to Nepal and the Nepalis. Please send an email to admin@sajha.com using a valid email address if you want any posting to be considered for deletion. Your request will be handled on a one to one basis. Sajha.com is a service please don't abuse it. - Thanks.

Sajha.com Privacy Policy

Like us in Facebook!

↑ Back to Top
free counters