Essay topic: Effects of secondhand smoke.
Haley Sprague
Mrs. Long
English 10
12/21
Secondhand smoke is a worldwide problem. I know that this issue matters because, second-hand smoke is deadly and can seriously harm children and even animals. According to the American Lung Association, second-hand smoke causes approx. 7,303 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year. I disagree with smoking because it can cause secondhand smoke, which has harmful effects on people without previous health problems and even worse effects on those who already have health concerns.
Secondhand smoke can cause many different effects. One serious danger of Secondhand Smoke is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Well, first off, people can become depressed after their baby dies of SIDS. But, after a long period of time, this could have a serious affect on our population. Chemicals in secondhand smoke appear to affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infant’s breathing. Infants who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at greater risk for SIDS. A few ways to prevent SIDS are to 1. Not to smoke when pregnant, 2. Not to smoke at home or around an infant and, 3. Put a baby to sleep on it’s back. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/
One of the core effects of Secondhand Smoke is that, secondhand smoke can be directly linked to cancer (lung cancer, larynx cancer, mouth cancer, and many many more)and other connected diseases, which kill millions worldwide annually. Smoking kills approx. six million people per year.
Some studies have connected secondhand smoke to mental and emotional changes (Depression, Substance Abuse, Anxiety disorders, etc.) as well. Such as, some studies have shown that exposure to secondhand smoke can be affixed to symptoms of depression.
Secondhand Smoke can also be related to coronary heart failure/disease. Such as Cardiomyopathies which causes problems with the muscles themselves. Agina, a disease where there is discomfort or pain in your heart because it is not getting enough oxygen and not enough resources; this can be caused by spasms in the coronary arteries. These spasms can be triggered by smoking/secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke causes approx. 600,000 people dying prematurely each year.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en
So, what is a main cause of all of these deaths/diseases? I feel that a couple core causes of this issue are just the popularity of tobacco and tobacco companies wanting to make a large sum of money.
Here are just some real world statistics:
According to http://www.worldometers.info/ at 3:04 AM 11/23/16 there had been approx. 1.95 Billion cigarettes smoked worldwide. That day.
The average pack of cigarettes costs $5.25. The average pack of cigarettes contains about 20 cigarettes.
So, one cigarette costs a little more than one American quarter at 0.2625 cents per cigarette.
So, what? It is only a quarter. Well, what is 0.25 multiplied by 1.95 billion? 487,500,000 dollars, pretty expensive cigarette. Do you have 487,500,000 dollars? Chances are that most people would quit smoking if they were offered that much money.
Luckily, there is some hope for some people to survive, as long as they know what is going on and how to aid in preventing it. Everyday people can have an impact on this issue by being informed. Informed of the dangers that they are putting themselves and others at risk to whenever they smoke. The best way to take action is to inform others. Some people smoke because it relieves stress. In a way, it does. Nicotine is a stimulant. It will cause the blood in the body to be pumped throughout the body faster. What some people do not know is that, the smoke they are giving off is also hurting the people around them as well.
The issue of SHS is important because, smoking has become a deadly addiction to this world. The by-product is secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke has killed children (SIDS), secondhand smoke has killed adults and secondhand smoke has also killed our infrastructure. People are so addicted that, at this point, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US. The United States alone is in this moment 19.9 trillion dollars in debt http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html (Not just tobacco’s fault). Researchers also find that 8.7 percent of all healthcare spending (approx. 170 billion dollars a year) is for an illness caused by tobacco smoke. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-healthcare-costs-smoking-idUSKBN0JX2BE20141219
The cause of secondhand smoke is smokers and the large industrial companies making huge money off of each cigarette and not using any of it to warn users and better society.
All in all, second-hand smoke kills more than half a million people a year.
Cited Works:
"Cigarette Smoking Costs Weigh Heavily on the Healthcare System." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 19 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
"Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 07 Dec. 2016. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
"Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke." Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
"Real Time World Statistics." Worldometers. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
"Tobacco." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
"U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time." U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment