Smoking cigarettes or cigars used to be something to depict a passing of age. For many teenagers, it is like a rite of passage; of being cool and mature enough to handle the “smokes.”
However, today, there is a stigma that is rapidly growing around the world against smokers and manufacturers of the product. One of the leading cause of death around the world is lung cancer, and the sad part about it is that it is a conscious action on our part that causes this disease to happen to us.
To be blunt, if you cannot stop smoking, you are an addict, plain and simple. You are addicted to nicotine and the habit of holding a stick in your hands and puffing away. The addiction is both physical and mental, and this is what makes it so hard to stop.
Yet, smoking is socially acceptable. In the United States, almost half a million people have died each year from diseases brought on by smoking. These diseases are heart attack, stroke, cancer, and other respiratory diseases.
Smoking not only hurts the person “enjoying” a smoke, but also the people unfortunate enough to smell the secondary smoke. There have been many cases of respiratory diseases and even lung cancer in people who have never even held a cigarette stick in their hands. Babies, toddler, and children are especially vulnerable to second-hand smoke.
For people who have been negatively affected by smoking, the frustration is intense and irritating. Diseases from smoking can be avoided 100% if only people would stop believing the “cool” campaign ads of cigarette manufacturers.
One thing that can be said for these manufacturers is that they know their business, and they have an excellent idea how to keep their buyers. When you think about it, smoking should be banned since it is so dangerous, yet, in the name of free enterprise and free trade, aside from the warning printed on every box of cigarettes and on media ads, there is not much anyone is doing to stop the sale of these toxic products.
It makes on wonder why we lambast pollution from vehicles, and yet find cigarette smoke acceptable in practically every area in our surroundings. There are very few exceptions to this scenario like hospitals and clinics, although even in these places, you may find areas that are designated as smoking areas.
Look at the statistics, around 300,000 infants below the age of 18 months gets sick from secondhand smoke every year. Around 24% (and rising) people who stay close to a smoker get cancer. There are approximately 3000 cancer victims every year in the United States that get the disease from second hand smoke. Children of parents who smoke are twice as likely to start smoking at an early age. Pregnant women who smoke will have babies that are smaller and more frail than normal. An estimated 4000 babies are at risk every year from pregnant women who smoke.
Still need to know what the fuss is all about?
Quote of the Day:
“You can eat five portions of fruit and veg a day and exercise regularly, but healthy behaviour means little if you continue to smoke.” – Dr. Gavin Petrie
Conclusion: There is no excuse for thinking that life is not previous enough, and endanger the lives of people around you, if you are a smoker. Of course, unless you get personally hit by the trauma, then you will never see it from the other side of the coin.
Smoking will age you, stress you, and kill you.
