What are the Harmful Effects of Smoking ?
Let us start from the top of the Body – Brain Hair, Eyes, Nose, Teeth, Gums, Mouth, Throat …. One could go on right to the Legs and Feet and everything in between (Pun intended) In other words Smoking affects the entire body and in numerous ways, too. Not to mention people who are around you who are forced to be passive smokers just by inhaling the deadly smoke from your cigarette. And last but not the least affected are the children you will parent who will end up having cancer and other fatal diseases due to mutations in genes and chromosomes. Cool! Thank You Very Much!
Every smoker will suffer from some illness as a direct result of smoking, one half will die because of it and the other half will not make it past middle age. In fact smoking is the single greatest preventable cause of disease and premature death. Contrary to popular perception that smoking causes lung cancer, it also causes Cardiovascular diseases, mouth and throat cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, bronchitis, cancer of the colon, cancer of the stomach, cancer of the pancreas, cancer of the kidney, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, cancer of the vulva, cancer of the penis, cancer of the bladder and leukemia. WOW! Quite an impressive list, one must say!
Next, let us consider the cost of smoking. When people consider the cost of smoking, they usually focus on the cost of the cigarettes alone, which could go up to $2,000 a year.
But when you add to that the cost of various medical ailments, the actual cost could go up to $200,000 over a lifetime. Every pack of cigarettes that an adult male smokes knocks off $222 from the value of that man’s life, estimate W. Kip Viscusi and Joni Hersch of Vanderbilt Law School. Ouch! That Really Hurts!
Not only is smoking bad for the smoker’s health, it is even worse for those around him. When a smoker decides to light up, he takes an active decision to risk his health, whereas when passive smokers are made to inhale the deadly potion of over 4000 chemicals, their health is compromised upon for no fault of theirs. In most cases, it is innocent children who are at risk from passive smoking. Not to mention the children who are yet to come into this world. Great! What a Welcome!
Last but not the least, every smoker must remember that tobacco companies WANT you to smoke. Each smoker is worth more than $40,000 to them over his or her lifetime. Recent studies suggest that over a period of time, the levels of nicotine, the primary addictive agent in cigarettes, has steadily been on the rise, which means more profits for the cigarette companies. Cha Ching! Roll in the Moolah!
At the end of the day, what’s in it for the smoker?
Karuna has been writing articles since the past 12 months. Not only is she an expert on diets and various ways to lose weight, you are welcome to check out her new website http://drip-coffee-makers.com for information on how to make coffee with Drip Coffee Makers