smoking hot?

Smoking.



Who loves to smoke? Who doesn't know anyone who doesn't smoke? I bet there is none. Each of us has a friend, classmate, family member, workmate, neighbor that smokes cigarettes. And I find it very annoying. I don't smoke. Yes, I did try it, and after a few puffs, never did again. I despise people who smoke in certain public transportations such as the bus, the jeep or even some taxi cabs. Or to sum it all, I hate smokers.

What is it with smoking?
Some people say it relieves their stress, helps them with digestion, blahblahblahs. I think it's all in their minds. They can't seem to accept that cigars have nicotine, an addictive component. They deny that it is the main reason why they can't stop smoking.

So, what do smokers really get for puffing these cigars? We all know about the cancer, other illnesses, and yet it seems these smokers are just confident of themselves and their health huh?

* Cigarette smoking has been identified as the most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality in the United States and the world.
* Smoking-related diseases cause an estimated 440,000 American deaths each year.
* Smoking costs the United States over $150 billion annually in health care costs.
* A 2004 Study by the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion found that cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.
* Women account for 39 percent of all smoking deaths.
* Children and adolescents who are active smokers will have increasingly severe respiratory illness, as they grow older.
* A shocking . . . 1 out of every 5 deaths is caused by tobacco.
* It is estimated that tobacco is responsible for 400,000 deaths in the US every single year
*Cigarettes are responsible for about 25% of deaths from residential fires, causing nearly 1,000 fire-related deaths and 3,300 injuries each year.
* Tobacco is blamed for many serious cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.

“It seems unlikely that we will be able to locate a toxicologist [ a scientist who studies poisons] who will give a 'clean' opinion to tobacco, even if (s)he agrees that ingredients pose no risk. The most realistic hope is that we can get an opinion that tobacco is a 'risk factor.'” -1986 R.J. Reynolds (RJR) document



Facts about smoking - International studies of millions of people by government, industry, universities,
and private research institutions have determined that smoking can cause:

1. Stained teeth, fingers, and hair
2. Increased frequency of colds, particularly chest colds and bronchitis
3. Asthma
4. Neuralgia
5. Gastrointestinal difficulties, constipation, diarrhea, and colitis
6. Headaches
7. Nausea
8. Convulsions
9. Leukoflakia (smoker's patch)
10. Insomnia
11. Heart murmur
12. Buerger's disease (inflammation of blood vessel linings)
13. Shortness of breath
14. Arthritis
15. Smoker's hack
16. Nervousness
17. Wrinkles and premature aging
18. Tension
19. Gastric, duodenal, and peptic ulcers
20. Lung cancer
21. Cancer of the lip, tongue, pharynx, larynx, and bladder
22.Emphysema
23.High blood pressure
24. Heart disease
25. Artherosclerosis & arteriosclerosis (thickening and loss of elasticity of the blood vessels with lessened blood flow)
26. Inflammation of the sinus passages
27. Tobacco angina (nicotine angina pectoris)
28. Pneumonia
29. Influenza
30. Pulmonary tuberculosis
31. Tobacco amblyopia
32. impared hearing
33. Decreased sexual activity
34. Mental depression


Second Hand Smoking Facts

* The EPA reported the following about Secondhand smoke.

* 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of diseases caused by exposure to second hand smoke every year.

* Secondhand smoke causes coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort and reduced lung function in nonsmokers.

* US infants and children under 18 months of age suffer some 150,000 to 300,000 respiratory tract infections (lung diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis) every year, leading to 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations.

I guess from all these things, I can not find anything positive with smoking. All I know, is that it kills. Yes, that cigar you've puffed earlier, may be your last, who knows. Or, if it doesn't kill you, the child next to you will suffer a lot more than you will do.

So please, when the sign says "No Smoking", just try to think of it as a personal message to you.

It will be a better place without smoking.

“Without nicotine...there would be no smoking...” - 1972 Philip Morris researcher





sources:
http://www.nutri.com
http://www.smoking-facts.net