CIGARETTE SMOKING
To all smokers all over the world, believe what I say, SMOKERS DON’T GROW OLD………because THEY DIE YOUNG..
Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of death and illness among Filipino and most of the people around the world. . Every year, roughly 730,000 people die from illnesses caused by tobacco use, accounting for one fifth of all deaths. Tobacco use costs the nation about $100 billion each year in direct medical expense and lost productivity.
About 25% of all American adults (46.3 million people) smoke. This number has remained constant for several years despite government efforts through Healthy People 2000 and Healthy People 2010 to lower those percentages. Slightly more men (28.1%) smoke than women (23.5%). Hispanics (20.4%) smoke less than whites (25.3%) or African Americans (26.7%).
Nevertheless, significant progress has been made since 1964, when the Surgeon General issued the first report outlining the health dangers of smoking. Since that time, the prevalence of smoking has dropped from 42.4% among adults to 25%.
Both lung cancer and emphysema would become quite rare if people would stop smoking. Compared to a nonsmoker, a smoker faces these risks:
- 14 times greater risk of dying from cancer of the lung, throat, or mouth
- 4 times greater risk of dying from cancer of the esophagus
- 2 times greater risk of dying from a heart attack
- 2 times greater risk of dying from cancer of the bladder
Use of other tobacco products such as pipes, cigars, and snuff is less common, comprising less than 10% of use of all tobacco products; however, the health effects of these products are similar to those of tobacco—particularly their association with cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus.
Increasing attention has been devoted to publicizing the dangers of second-hand (environmental) smoke, the association between tobacco marketing and initiation of smoking among youth, and the development of strategies and medications to help smokers quit. Cigarette smoking has been linked strongly to the following illnesses:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Other diseases of blood vessels (such as poor circulation in the legs)
- Respiratory illness, including the following:
Diagnosing tobacco use or tobacco-related illness is not difficult.
Doctors should ask people about tobacco use at every visit and provide counseling about quitting. Most people who smoke admit doing so, in part because smoking carries less social stigma than use of other substances, such as alcohol or illicit drugs.Upon a physical exam, a doctor may find various conditions associated with chronic tobacco use.
Nicotine causes a characteristic brown staining of the hard palate, teeth, fingers, and fingernails.
- A smoker's skin may wrinkle prematurely.
- Smokers have a typical odor to their hair and clothing.
- People with emphysema may have a large, barrel-shaped chest and a chronic cough that produces thick green sputum.
- Bronchitis
- Pneumonia
- Cancers, including: Lip or mouth, Pharynx or larynx (voice box), Esophagus (food pipe), Pancreas, Kidney, Urinary bladder, Cervix, Peptic ulcer disease, Burns
Prevention Most smokers begin to smoke as teenagers. Every day, 3,000 American youths start smoking.
Despite that fact, the American Lung Association contends that the tobacco industry "aggressively and consistently fights meaningful efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to enact and enforce laws barring sales (of cigarettes) to minors."
Parents still have the biggest impact on their children's decision whether to smoke. The best way to prevent a youngster from taking up smoking likely is to have parents who don't smoke. Children from smoking households are more likely to begin smoking than children from nonsmoking households.
Much attention has been focused in recent years on the influence of tobacco company advertising on encouraging young people to smoke.
Although cigarette commercials have been banned from television for 30 years, the tobacco industry remains the country's largest advertiser. According to the American Lung Association, the tobacco industry spent an estimated $5.7 billion on advertising in 1997, up 10.8% or $552 million from 1996. In 1982, when cigarette sales peaked, the industry spent an estimated $1.8 billion for advertising. Cigarette sales dropped from $632.5 billion in 1982 to $478.6 billion in 1997. Tobacco company ads are everywhere:
Ads are in print media and at sporting and cultural events.
Cigarette use by actors in popular films has long been a means to portray smoking as sophisticated and glamorous.
Tobacco companies sponsor automobile racing and women's tennis.
Although denied by tobacco companies, the use of cartoon animals and the like in advertising campaigns appeals to youngsters.
Counter-advertising by various antismoking advocacy groups may provide some balance, but their advertising budgets pale beside those of tobacco companies.
Schools generally provide education on the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances, but their impact is unclear.
Increasing the taxes on cigarettes, and hence their price, has been shown to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among adolescents. (BOBBYPAULODAGALA/CIO-TAGUM) |
