Smoking: Leading Cause Of Death In The United States

Smoking is the single highest cause of preventable death in America and puts users at significantly greater risk for disease compared to the rest of the population. Tobacco use costs the U.S. more than 289 billion dollars annually in medical expenses and lost productivity (Surgeon General, 2014). The problems associated with smoking are due in part to its addictiveness. Nicotine is the addictive substance found in tobacco and its chemical dependence is as strong as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol (CDC, 2014). Getting all smokers to quit entirely is not realistic due to nicotine’s addictive characteristics.

The U.S. Surgeon General determined that there is no ‘risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.’ Separating smokers from nonsmokers, installing smoking rooms, or even sophisticated air cleaning technologies cannot eliminate the health hazards of secondhand smoke exposure nor remove all the poisons, toxins, gases, and particles found in secondhand smoke. Additionally, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building (Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights).

Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.

Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of death in the United States. Smoking causes cancer in so many people. Over 90% of all lung cancer in men and women are caused by smoking tobacco. Smoking causes more deaths each year than the following combined: Illegal drug use, alcohol use, HIV, motor vehicles, and many more. More than ten times as many US citizens have died from smoking than have died in wars fought by US in history. So, the real question is, “Why do people still smoke cigarettes, knowing that it can kill them?” Smoking cigarettes is the most devastating thing to damage people’s health. However, people still smoke cigarettes, knowing it can kill them for several reasons.

Smoking is slow-motion suicide. Smoking is the biggest cause of death that is preventable. People need To be talking about the history of cigarettes, Underage smoking, and the Diseases of long term smoking, Then they will understand that cigarettes should be illegal.

Smoking, a practice of inhaling and exhaling smoke from burning tobacco, is a problem that is notorious for causing the death of more than 7 million people every year, and around 890,000 of those people are non-smokers that were exposed to second-hand smoke (World Health Organization). According to “Your Health Today: Choices in a Changing Society,” smoking causes cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases because of the content of approximately 600 chemical ingredients, which yield more than 4,800 substances when burnt (Teague 336-338). Not only are the smokers themselves harmed, but also non-smokers that are exposed to smokers’ second-hand smoke, especially women, children, pregnant women, and fetus. For

Thankfully, people have come to collectively understand that tobacco use causes extreme harm to a person’s physical health, economic well-being, and social relationships. However, what many don’t realize is how widespread tobacco usage still is. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States: it kills over 480,000 people a year (both directly and also by secondhand smoke) and for every person that dies, 30 more live with serious smoking-related health consequences ("Tips impact and results" 2016). With so many people dying from tobacco use, tobacco companies are forced to gain new customers for their products. These new users are children and young

“In the United States alone second-hand smoke, SHS, kills over 400 infants and 41,000 non-smokers each year according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. CDCP

Smoking is responsible for an increasing number of deaths worldwide. OECD (2013) indicates that tobacco is a major risk factor for a leading cause of the premature mortality, as it increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, mouth cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Compared to other OECD countries Canada’s smoking rate is low. In 2013, 16.30% of Canada’s total population was found to partake in smoking, where the average of OECD countries smoking rate was 21.13%. However, many Canadians are unaware of the significant link between second-hand smoke and the increased risk in death. In the study of “Second-hand smoke and cancer” by Canadian Partnership against Cancer (2012), more than 1,100 deaths among non-smokers are

"Environmental tobacco smoke-the secondhand cigarette smoke breathed by nonsmokers is a known carcinogen and the most dangerous environmental pollutant."(Waxman 1995) Surprisingly secondhand smoke causes as many deaths as the tobacco smokers do. "Most people die from secondhand smoke each year than from car accidents."(Waxman 1995) There are a lot of reasons that causes the deaths from secondhand smoke. "Lung cancer is the best known risk from secondhand smoke."(Wilson 1997)

Unfortunately second-hand smoke has twice the chemicals originate in the direct inhalation of tobacco found in cigarettes. (“Secondhand Smoke”) Non-smokers who inhale the polluted air are likely to get many serious diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and other diseases. (“Second Hand Smoke”) Third-hand smoke can have the same impact as second hand smoke; third-hand smoke is the tobacco smoke that gets trapped hair, skin, fabric, carpet, furniture, and toys. Third-hand smoke contains the same toxic chemicals as second-hand smoke and has the same effect on the body;

In today’s society almost everyone is a smoker in some way, shape, or form. Whether tobacco is smoked or chewed the consumption has proven to be deadly to all aspects of humanity. In 2013 the Center for Disease Control (cdc.gov) reported that in 2013, 42.1 adults in America were current cigarette smokers consequentially polluting the environment at an aggressive rate. Second hand smoke is smoke inhaled involuntarily due to other tobacco users. These chemicals released into the atmosphere then linger undetectably in the air we breath. When exposed to second hand smoke the effects are equivalent. No one is exempt from the exposure to second hand smoke. 88 million nonsmoking Americans are

Cigarette smoking is the greatest single cause of illness and premature death in the UK. . A 2007 report states that about 4.9 million people worldwide each year die sadly, as a result of smoking. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer. Tobacco smoking is the most popular practice by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. About 30,000 people in the UK die from lung cancer each year. More than 8 in 10 cases are directly related to smoking. Lung cancer accounts for 29 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States and smoking accounts for about 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. The risks of dying from lung cancer

In the cigarette, scientists found a complex mixture of gases and more than 7000 chemicals, which are generated during the burning and smoking of tobacco products. Of these, more than hundreds are known to be toxic or carcinogenic. Second hand smoke could causes many diseases, cancer is only one of them. According to the American cancer society, “every year in the United States alone, second hand smoke responsible for estimated 42,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are current non-smokers,furthermore,it Making children much more likely to be put into intensive care when they are sick; they stay in the hospital longer, and they’re more likely to need breathing tubes than kids who aren’t exposed to SHS”.

Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke produced at the end of a burning cigarette and that that a smoker exhales. It can easily be identified by its distinct odor and is retained in clothing, furniture, hair, and curtains. Secondhand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals with more than 50 of these known to cause cancer (Report of the Surgeon General). It contains numerous toxic metals including lead, cadmium, nickel, beryllium, radioactive polonium-210, and arsenic, found in many pesticides (Report of the Surgeon General). A child's body is still developing and highly susceptible to the harmful effects of their environments. “Exposure to the poisons in secondhand smoke puts them at risk of severe respiratory diseases and can hinder