Lung Cancer Essay, Research Paper

The Health Hazards of Smoking

Smoking affects a person’s health in many ways, having both immediate and long term effects. It is a

serious addiction, caused by the drug nicotine. Once inhaled, nicotine reaches the brain almost

immediately (within seven seconds). Milligram for milligram, the nicotine contained in all cigarette smoke

is more potent than heroin.

Humans have been using tobacco for 1,000 years or so. Until about 100 years ago, most tobacco use was in

the form of pipe tobacco, cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff. Those who smoked cigarettes had to roll their

own, using loose tobacco. Then, in 1881, the cigarette-rolling machine was invented and smokers went

from consuming 40 cigarettes a year on average to over 12,000 each year.

Risk from tobacco smoke is not limited to the smoker. It has been estimated that exposure to

environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) increases the risk of lung cancer by about 30% (about 3,000 cases a

year in the USA). Non-smoking infants and children who are chronically exposed to in utero and

environmental smoke have an increased risk of respiratory diseases, malignancy, and other health problems

that result in increased hospitalization and days lost from school. Non-smoking adults who are exposed also

have more respiratory symptoms that are likely to contribute to work absenteeism due to illness.

Whenever you light up, the nicotine in tobacco causes an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure,

and the air passages in your lungs constrict, making it more difficult for you to breathe. As small blood

vessels constrict, your skin temperature may also decrease, causing your fingers, toes and skin to feel cold.

Smoking dulls your senses, particularly your sense of smell and taste. Finally, carcinogens, or cancer

causing agents, and toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, enter your bloodstream. This can result in more

rapid onset of chest pain and disturbance of heart rhythm during physical activity or exercise. The long

term effects of smoking are very serious. Smoking contributes to various respiratory diseases, such as

chronic bronchitis, or a shortness of breath and eventual chronic cough; emphysema, or extreme breathing

difficulty and gasping for air; and lung infections, including continual colds, flu and pneumonia.

In addition, smoking can lead to cardiovascular illnesses such as heart disease and arterial disease (clogged

arteries). As arteries constrict, there is also a greater risk of stroke, which results in a disruption of the flow

of blood carrying oxygen to the brain. In fact, studies show that smokers are two to three times more likely

to have a stroke than non-smokers, and the risk of cardiovascular disease is highest for smokers with high

blood pressure and relatively high for women who smoke and use oral contraceptives.

Tobacco use is the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries, and an

important cause of premature death worldwide. In countries which report deaths attributable to smoking

(representing about one-third of the world’s population), annual deaths from smoking numbered about 1.7

million in 1985, with an estimated 2.1 million in 1995 (and hence about 21 million in the decade 1990-99:

5-6 million in the European Community, 5-6 million in the the USA, 5 million in the former USSR, 3

million in Easter Europe and 2 million elsewhere). More than half of these deaths occur in people 35-69

years of age. During the 1990’s, tobacco will cause about 30% of all deaths in people aged between 35-69

years in developed countries (making it the largest single cause of premature death) plus about 15% of all

deaths at older ages. In addition, increasing incidence of smoking in the developing world is likely to lead

to a new epidemic of smoking-related disease.

Smoking contributes to the onset of many diseases, and is thought to account for 87% of deaths in lung

cancer, 82% in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 21% in coronary heart disease (CHD) and

18% in stroke cases. Therefore, once addicted to nicotine, the smoker faces an unacceptably increased risk

of respiratory, neoplastic and cardiovascular disorders. Even without overt pulmonary symptoms, the

smoker has a chronic inflammatory disease of the lower airways with an accelerated decline in lung

function.

In addition to causing lung cancer, smoking has been linked to other forms of cancer, including cancer of

the larynx (or voicebox); cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus; and cancer of the kidneys, pancreas

and bladder.

Pregnant women who smoke have a greater chance of miscarriage or giving birth to stillborn, low-

birthweight or premature babies.

Recent studies have also linked smoking to premature facial wrinkling. In fact, researchers say smoking

more than triples the average person’s chance of premature facial wrinkling, and that the severity of

wrinkling increases with the number of pack-years, doubling and in some cases quadrupling depending on

the number of packs smoked per day over a long period of time.

Smoking also stains your fingers and teeth, and leaves a stale smell on your hair, breath and clothes.

Studies indicate that breathing second-hand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), can also pose

certain risks. The poisons in second-hand smoke can burn the eyes, nose and throat, and cause coughing;

increase the heart rate; raise blood pressure; cause headaches; and upset the stomach. Over time, breathing

second-hand smoke can increase the risk of lung problems, cancer, heart attacks, and strokes.

Those with health problems are at greater risk, particularly those with heart problems, allergies, or

breathing problems, such as asthma.

Infants and young children may also be seriously affected by second-hand smoke. Studies indicate that

children of smokers are more likely to have coughs, colds, lung problems, ear infections, behavior

problems, heart disease and cancer later in life.

But, that’s not all. Smoking also greatly increases the risk of heart disease. There were almost 180,000

deaths from cardiovascular disease in 1990 that were caused by cigarette smoking. And in 1990, smoking

caused more than 84,000 deaths from lung diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema, bronchitis, and

influenza.

There is some good news, however. If a smoker kicks the habit, the death rate from heart disease drops to

the rate of nonsmokers after 5 years. And the rate of cancer drops to that of the nonsmoker after quitting for

10 years.

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