Cigarette Smoking is responsible for over 480 thousand deaths each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking tobacco was introduced to the United States around the 1800’s but only become popular around 1919 due to the horrors of the Great War. It initially was only men who were smoking, however, as the 1920’s came, it was accepted that women would also smoke. At that time, people weren’t aware of the toxic chemicals they were smoking and just how bad it was for them. Smoking develops a ton of distress into a person’s life from its financial troubles, to its health issues, and finally to its societal issues.
In Los Angeles, the average price for a cigarette pack costs roughly ten dollars (Nisperos 1). For example, someone smoking a pack a day spends around one hundred and seven dollars a week on cigarettes, which adds up to more than ninety five hundred dollars a year. So, for someone who is earning an average hourly wage, they would have to work for about forty-five minutes just to be able to buy a cigarette pack (Health Promotion Agency 1). This information suggests it takes a great amount of work just for someone to be able to buy cigarettes, which are nothing but a temporary stress reliever. (People that are below poverty level are more likely to smoke than those at or above poverty level). Also, smoking related illnesses cost about 300 billion dollars, 170 billion of those are from direct medical care for adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). These numbers show just how much money people are forced to spend for an opportunity to be able to cure diseases and prevent deaths from happening.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"The Dangers of Smoking".
In a single cigarette, there are approximately six hundred ingredients that become seven thousand different chemicals when burned, of which seventy-nine are cancerous and poisonous. One of these components happens to be lead, which can be found in things like batteries and gasoline (Health Promotion Agency). Most of the people that smoke start at a young age thinking that they will be able to quit very soon, without knowing the consequences that come with it. Everyday, there is an average of 2500 youth that smoke their first cigarette while approximately four hundred others become daily smokers (CDC 3). Needless to say, many of these people begin their slow suicide process at a very young age. Moving on, it is reported that smoking causes more deaths each year than alcohol use, vehicle injuries, and firearm-related injuries combined. Also, if it must be added, smoking causes cancers like blood cancer, lung cancer, colon cancers, kidney cancer, etc. (CDC 2). This information should be enough to play in a smoker’s mind and possibly lead him to quit.
Secondhand smoke is smoke that has been exhaled from burning tobacco products and is just as critical as firsthand smoking. Some people are unfortunate to find themselves occasionally surrounded by smokers. Unfortunately, some fathers smoke around their young children, which has been proven to cause severe asthma attacks and respiratory infections. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that two out of every five children aged three to eleven are exposed to secondhand smoking regularly (CDC 1). This can be seen as the reason young children grow up believing that is acceptable for them to be smoking because of the conditions they grew up in. Another problem smoking presents to our society is an environmental issue. It takes anywhere from ten month to ten years for a single cigarette that has been littered to decompose (Cigarettes make up roughly thirty-eight percent of all collected litter). These littered cigarettes spread toxic chemicals into our environment and also may easily contaminate water. These toxic chemicals may poison fish when littered into water or any other animal when littered on a street (Truth Initiative).
To conclude, the information presented was an attempt to prove to people that smoking really causes a person so much distress. Also, some people believe that why should they quit now, the damage has already been done, however, it is never too late to quit. Quitting smoking lowers your chances of having smoking-related diseases and may also add more years to your life no matter when a person quits. People must be smart with these decisions that can affect them, the people around them, and their loved ones.
