Effects of Smoking essays

Effects of Smoking essays Cigarettes are perhaps the only legal product whose effects of intended use cause illness and even death in its users. Cigarette smoking kills more than 440,000 Americans a year making it more lethal than AIDS, automobile accidents, homicides, suicides, drug overdoses, and fires combined. Pregnant women that smoke, risk the health and lives of their unborn babies. They may pass genetic mutations that can increase great danger to their baby. It not only directly affects the health of cigarette smokers but non-smokers as well. All health risks aside, cigarette smoking also greatly impacts our economy costing more than 150 billion dollars each year in health related cost. In the United States, tobacco cause one in five deaths. The smoke contains tar which is made up of over 4,000 chemicals including 60 known to cause cancer. Smoking accounts for about 30% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. Cigarettes cause almost 90% of all lung cancer and can initiate cancers of the larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat) and esophagus. It can also lead to the development of colon and rectum cancer. Smoking has been linked to tripling the chance of skin cancer. People who smoke also have higher rates of leukemia and cancers of the kidney, stomach, pancreas and bladder. In female smokers, around 30% of cervical cancers have been attributed to smoking. Cervical cancer is just one effect of smoking for women. Cigarettes can also affect pregnant women and their unborn babies. When a pregnant women smokes, she is smoking for two. The nicotine, carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals enter her bloodstream, pass directly into the babys body and prevent the baby from getting essential nutrients and oxygen for growth. Smoking in pregnant women has been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Stillbirth, pre-maturity, low birth weight, and asthma can also be a factor on the unborn fetus. Mothers who smoke can have an impact on th ...