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Is Smoking Bad?by Angelina Petterson <
Smoking and Health In actual fact smoking is bad for anyone who engages in it. What is actually bad for people who smoke is the tobacco in tobacco cigarettes. Tobacco contains up to 4000 toxic compounds 60 of them being cancer causing carcinogens. The toxins are only released when a cigarette is burning. Before a cigarette starts burning it contains over 500 additives. Smoking is bad for human lungs. Tobacco smoke contains tar and carbon monoxide as well as ammonia. Tar accumulates in a smoking person's lungs over time until a thick dark rubbery coat is formed. This makes breathing difficult and participating in sport virtually impossible. Many smokers eventually develop lung cancer which results in death. Smoking is also associated with heart disease and other cardiovsacular diseases. The nicotine in tobacco tempers with cardiovascular nerves in a human body which will result in different serious body pains. Apart from heart related problems, smoking also results in bad breath associated with periodontal disease. Most smokers have terrible breath which often becomes embarrassing. Teenage tobacco users often ask is smoking bad for my skin? Yes smoking causes rapid aging of a person's skin. Smokers who have been smoking for many years often look twice the age of their non-smoking peers. Nicotine affects the flow of blood to the skin surface by tempering with nerves. This is a contributing factor to the aging of the skin. The good news is that skin aging reverses on quitting smoking. Smoking is responsible for teeth discoloration. Smoking tobacco have a similar effect on teeth as that of chewing tobacco as shown in these chewing tobacco pictures. Teeth discoloration is very difficult to treat and may become a permanent condition in smoking adults. Smoking Bad for Children Particularly for children who live with smoking parents or siblings, tobacco smoking has been shown to exacerbate pre-existing asthmatic conditions. This primarily occurs through second hand smoke and third hand smoke. Smoking is bad for children because it heighten the risk of nicotine poisoning in the home and in their play environment. Cigarette butts thrown on the floor can be swallowed by children leading to health complications. These may even be eaten by curious pets with the same result. Smoking is also dangerous for both pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Children born to smoking mothers may have low birth weight or even die due to involuntary abortion. Later in life children who survive might have learning difficulties and research shows they have a higher propensity to smoke as well. Smoking tobacco cigarettes whilst breastfeeding will result in nicotine transfer in the mother's milk to the baby. There are fears of addiction or a higher propensity to smoke later in life. Smoking Bad for Environment Green world campaigners are increasingly getting up in arms with tobacco users and the tobacco industry itself. First of all the smoke emitted into the environment by a massive movement of smokers is harmful. Take China for example with 350 million smokers. Vast quantities of poisonous gases are released into the air daily. These same smokers also throw cigarette butts onto the ground which results in contaminated water supplies as chemicals in the butts leach into the soil. Worldwide an estimated 5 trillion butts pollutes the environment with China leading the pack. Cigarette design and manufacture requires that cigarettes be wrapped in special paper. This paper comes from trees that have to be cut down to produce it. The results of tree cutting are increased global temperatures due to a widening carbon footprint. Is smoking bad for developing countries? Yes, due to stinging smoking laws and tobacco regulations in the developed countries, many tobacco companies are turning their interest to developing countries such as India and Malawi in Africa to contract out tobacco farming. Apart from compromised food security for local communities as everyone rushes to grow tobacco; more land is being cleared to expand tobacco crops which attract more cash. The result is environmental degradation coupled with poor farming methods and banned tobacco farming chemicals still in use. Have A Great Story About This Topic?Do you have something you would like to say about this? Share it! Return to Articles on Tobacco and Health from Is Smoking Bad?
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