One World Essay <Smoking> Park Soyun 2018 Science Mr.

Parsons December 6th, 2013 Word count: 997

Smoking comes in many different forms, most commonly a substance is burned and either inhaled or tasted. Many people smoke tobacco, which usually comes in the form of cigarettes and pipes and contain the highly addictive substance, Nicotine. Other substances that people smoke include marijuana, illegal drugs, legal drugs and some people even smoke plants or herbs including Opium (which is the seed of poppy flower). Smoking has been around for centuries, as early as 5026 BC. Tobacco became popular especially with Europeans in the 16th century. During that 1920s, the first medical reports saying smoking to lung cancer started to appear but many newspaper editors didnt publish these reports because tobacco companies advertised in their publications (CCNSW, 2013). In 1948, a British physiologist Richard Doll said smoking could cause serious health damage. In 1954, the British Doctors Study, a study of 40 thousand doctors confirmed smoking and lung cancer were related. (ACS, 2013), (CNN, 2013) Since these reports smoking has been linked to many illnesses including heart attacks, strokes, and most of all lung cancer and cancers of the throat and mouth (MNT, 2013). Smoking is a large factor in many cardiovascular illnesses. Cardiovascular illness or disease means any disease that affects the cardiovascular system, which is the heart, blood, blood vessels and lungs where the blood is oxygenated. The chemicals contained in cigarettes cause a build up and hardening of the arteries in your body which leads to narrower, less flexible pathways for oxygenated blood to flow through. One of the earlier scientific methods for assessing whether smoking was bad for you was a survey of hospital patients with lung cancer in London (Doll, 1956). I think it is very hard to conclude that smoking is more likely to cause lung cancer based on the one survey taken from just that one population. Also the survey did not take into account how many cigarettes they smoked or for how long that person had been a smoker. A large number of other epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies in a range of settings among different population groups have provided consistent and compelling evidence of the leading role of tobacco smoking in the genesis of both acute cardiovascular events and atherosclerotic disease. (Bullen, 2008). Scientists have also completed experiments where they measure and have found the nicotine in cigarettes to have an elevating effect on heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output which are all key contributors to cardiovascular disease. To try solve the problem cigarettes cause, particularly the nicotine component, scientists have developed e-cigarette (electronic cigarettes that imitate the feeling of smoking but do not contain the bad chemicals), nicotine free cigarette patches and chewing gum. One of the main methods scientists have used to address this problem is increasing education and awareness of the negative effect of smoking. There are few limitations which science could not figure out. Approximately 7000 chemicals, have been identified in cigarettes and cigarette smoke to date, 250 of which are poisonous and 70, carcinogenic. Science is far from finished in its exploration of the composition of manufactured tobacco products, and the chemical count is still increasing. (Martin, 2013). Because there are so many chemicals in cigarettes,

science could not even find and list all of the bad substances contained in cigarettes. To prevent anymore increasing number of smokers, scientists needed to find out the way people can easily quit smoking. Because smoking causes so many diseases including cardiovascular diseases like heart attack, strokes and lung cancer, they needed a way to decrease smoking. Herbert A. Gilbert, who is the inventor of ecigarettes said, Using the technology available in 1963 I concluded that a battery powered heat source would do the job and the first electric cigarette was born. I did build prototypes and tried using various flavors of water as steam and it worked. (Gilbert, 2013). Increasing education and awareness has been one of the most effective methods scientists found. This method helped some countries to create effective smoking cessation campaigns such as graphic TV campaigns that show a person inhaling smoke, with the camera following the smoke down the throat through the body and into the lungs. These campaigns visually show black tar and chemicals contained in cigarettes building up in the lining and cells of the cardiovascular system within the body, which has helped reduce the smoking rate. Smoking has a very social element to it, which is the reason many people initially begin smoking. This is particularly true for young teenagers who see smoking as a way to be accepted socially in a group. Many people enjoy the interaction and company formed by groups of smokers and so even before we consider the negative effect of chemicals the cigarettes contain, many smokers align a feeling of pleasure and belonging to the act of smoking, making it an increasingly difficult habit to quit. Unfortunately smoking also has such a negative impact in many social aspects such as child labor. Forced child labor in tobacco farms and cigarette factories is common in many countries especially developing countries. (Shah, 2008). The numbers are quite frightening. In Indonesia alone, almost 2.5 million Indonesian children are working who should not be, of which 21 percent were domestic workers, and almost 60 percent in the tobacco industry. (Jakarta post, 2013).This has a rippling effect in society as large numbers of children are working in the tobacco industry rather than going to school and getting an education. What this means for the society is uneducated ranks of children growing into uneducated adults are less able to contribute financially and also share knowledge into their communities. Smoking also has a horrific negative impact economically. As smoking is responsible for about 10% of adult deaths worldwide, many as a result of cardiovascular disease, it holds great economic responsibility. Not only can smoking reduce the average lifespan of a person, meaning less working years in adult life and hence less income and contribution to their countries financial state, it also places a heavy burden on the health care systems within a country. For example in New Zealand, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the Auckland area and is directly responsible for over NZ$ 100 million in health care costs. However countries like New Zealand have acknowledged the truth that science has presented regarding cigarette smoking as one of the most important preventable causes of heart disease. (ADHB, 2006) Over the past ten years, the smoking rates in New Zealand have decreased from 26% to 18%. (OECD, 2011). In conclusion, experiments and studies performed over many years by scientists have proven smoking to be one of the leading causes in cardiovascular disease. Scientists have found cigarettes to contain over 7000 chemicals which deteriorate health causing hardening of the arteries and build up of chemicals in the lungs which eventually lead to cardiovascular disease and frequently death. As detailed, smoking has many negative effects including the direct effect on the smokers health as well as rippling effects into society and adding huge financial burdens with health care costs. Have you thought about what you are breathing into your body?

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