Tobacco|Smoking|Smoking Facts.

Cigarette smoking is resorted to by a third of the male population in the world. A Tobacco smoke can either be in the form of a beedi, a cigarette, a cigar, a hookah or a  pipe. In many countries, tobacco is even chewed. Smoking cigarettes is an addiction and though not impossible, it is very difficult to quit smoking. To know how difficult it is to give up smoking can be gauged from this quote on smoking.

“To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did.  I ought to know because I’ve done it a thousand times.” – Mark Twain.

Though smoking has been resorted to since 5000 B.C., the danger to health of smoking was established as recently as 1950. Certain smoking facts have been discovered and smoking today is considered a social stigma.

Smoking Facts.

Below are certain facts about smoking which in general, give an idea about how and why smoking tobacco is so widespread and its damaging effects.

• Why People Smoke.  People smoke because smoking is addictive. This smoking fact explains why it is very difficult for a smoker to stop smoking in spite of knowing its dangers. Smoking tobacco is addictive because tobacco contains nicotine which makes one dependent on smoking tobacco. Nicotine is a drug which when inhaled through tobacco smoke is absorbed into the blood through the lungs. It takes just 6 seconds to reach the brain. On reaching the brain, it induces the artificial release of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical which induces a feeling of pleasure, a feeling akin to a feeling of achievement. Your body therefore yearns for this feeling of pleasure caused by this artificial release of dopamine due to tobacco inhalation. This feeling dies down after the nicotine levels fall and you wish for another smoke to get that feeling back. That’s how tobacco smoking makes one addictive to it.

Even the great have fallen prey to smoking.

 

• According to a  recently concluded survey, about 15 million smokers try to quit the smoking habit everyday. Of these less than 3 % succeed to quit smoking, but only for 3 to 12 months.
• Cigarette filters do not work. They do not remove enough tar to make smoking less dangerous. It is just a ploy to make smokers feel that they are smoking a less dangerous cigarette.
• According to the World Health Organisation, smoking kills more people than any other disease in the world.
• Tobacco can be grown in any part of the world except the Antarctica.
• Tobacco is one of the most widely used addictive substances throughout the world.
• Effects of Smoking. Smoking causes serious effects like lung cancer, emphysema of the lungs and heart diseases.
• Carcinogens in tobacco cause abnormal growth of the genes causing the body cells (which the genes control) to mutate and become cancer cells.
• Smoking Advertisements. Advertisements on smoking have been banned in most countries across the world. Many countries have made it mandatory to put warning signs of ill effects of smoking on the cigarette packets.
• Smoking in public places is  banned in many countries. A heavy fine is imposed on those who disobey this ban and smoke.
• Second hand smoke causes ill effects on health of those who inhale smoke exhaled by smokers. Family members and coworkers of a smoker are the most affected due to second hand smoke. Second hand smoke contains more than 60 cancer forming chemicals.
• Pregnant women who smoke give birth to babies who are underweight.
• Infants affected by second hand smoke can suffer from bronchitis, asthmas and pneumonia.
• In a family where one or both parents smoke, the child is twice as likely to start smoking.
• Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. When an used cigarette is thrown away, the filter also contains toxic waste from tobacco smoke. This filter takes 18 months to 10 years to decompose, thereby adversely affecting the environment.
• If the nicotine content present in 5 cigarettes is consumed by an adult as a whole, it is enough to kill him.
• A typical cigarette contains 8 to 9 mgms of nicotine. Since most of it is burnt up, a smoker gets 1 gram of nicotine which reaches the brain in 8 seconds. When tobacco is chewed, it takes about 3 to 5 minutes for the nicotine to reach the brain.  A cigar has a higher nicotene content – 100 to 200 mgms of nicotine, sometimes going as high as 400 mgms of nicotine.
• Smoking light cigarettes or low tar cigarettes does not reduce risk of cancer.
• Smoking and Life Span. Male smokers lose about 13.2  years of their life while female smokers lose about 14.5 years.
• Law suits and the tobacco industry. Since the mid 1990s, the tobacco industry has greatly suffered because it had to dole out cash compensation in legal law suits filed by various states in the U.S.
• The largest tobacco company in the world by volume is the China National Tobacco Company.
• Stopping cigarette smoking immediately can cause tobacco withdrawal symptoms in a tobacco addict.
• Though cigarette smoking is on the fall in the developed countries due to health awareness, its incidence is rising in the developing world.
• The global tobacco industry is controlled by the multi national companies of the U.S., the U.K. and Japan.
• Cigarette smoke is 10,000 times more concentrated with pollutants than automobile pollution during rush hour on the freeway.

Smoking facts about smoking make it abundantly clear that smoking tobacco not only harms you, but also harms those around you and the environment. The next post discusses global statistics of smoking, statistics of United States and U.K.

 

Related posts:

1. Secondhand Smoking Facts and Statistics.
2. Cigarette Smoke.
3. E Cigarette|Electronic Cigarette.
4. Smoking Statistics.
5. Cause of Smoking.
6. Quitting Smoking|Why Stop Smoking.
7. Cancer from Smoking.
8. Smoking|Smoking Pictures.