Essential Smoking Facts

There are many different reasons why people get lung cancer.  There are several people that get it through the natural aging process of their body and there are also many people that get it through different environmental factors such as contact with asbestos or cigarette smoke.  The DNA in our bodies replicate to form new cells everyday.  Sometimes those DNA cells mutate and create cancer cells that can be caused by the factors just mentioned.

According to LungCancer.org, Lung Cancer is the number one cause of death from cancer each year in both men and women.  Out of the large variety of smoking facts and smoking statistics,  this is one of the bold few that stand out the most.  Though there are many forms of lung cancer, Primary Lung Cancer is the most common among smokers.  It can also be easily avoided if a smoker decides to quit.  Smoking a pack of cigarettes each day for an entire year is equal to pouring a cup of tar into your lungs.  The potential damage is frightening and the chances of having cells in the lungs that will mutate is greater each year you smoke.  The healthy cells in the lungs change dramatically from the effect of cigarette smoke as well.  These cells will effect the airways over time.  The lungs have a natural system called cilia that swiftly help the body clean the airways.  With every inhalation of smoke, those cilia slow down deceasing their effectiveness of function.  Every year heavy smokers slowly lose the amount of cilia they have in their lungs.  Smoking also causes increased mucus production in the lungs.  This is because the the body’s natural response is to increase the size of the lung’s cells.  The mucus in a smokers lungs tends to be thicker than normal and when there is too much, infection can take place.  Over time the healthy bronchi and bronchioles in the lungs have a harder time trying to deliver rich oxygen to the heart.  Emphysema is a common sickness many smokers face as a result.  According to the American Lung Association, a big reason why lung cancer is so serious is because it is very hard to detect in the early stages.  It can take years for the cancer to grow and when it finally does grow to a large state is when the individual usually starts to experience symptoms.

Though Close to 90% of all Lung Cancers are smoking related, believe it or not their are thousands of smokers that think that smoking doesn’t harm them.  Lung Cancer is very preventable.  Quitting can save lives.

Resources: http://www.lungusa.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/about-lung-cancer/understanding-lung-cancer.html,

http://www.lungcancer.org/reading/about.php, http://www.upmc.com/HealthAtoZ/patienteducation/Documents/SmokingLungs.pdf

Lets face the facts, When you’re a kid or a growing teenager, image and self awareness are huge parts of life.  The young population is very much drawn to how other large figures in their life act and value things.   It is very hard to find a teen that doesn’t want to be cool and doesn’t want to be part of the crowd that everyone else likes.    Teens often feel like they have nothing to lose and health problems along with old age are a hundred years away.  Farther from here to the moon.

I think that’s enough of an introduction, the thing that I really wanted to point out is that teens make decisions that unknowingly will effect them for the rest of their lives.  The sad thing is that some of those decisions will bring hardships that they never saw coming.  Smoking just happens to be one of those things.  recent smoking statistics show that around 80% of adults who smoke started when they were just teens.  The dreadful thing is that this percentage is on the rise.  There are many different scenarios that put a cigarette in a teens hand.  Every teen has a different level of awareness and a different background.  It is impossible to pinpoint exactly why each one of them decides to start.  As adults we have the power to educate about the risks of smoking and bring about positive change in youths lives.  As parents we have the responsibility of helping our children understand how important living a healthy lifestyle is for their future.  A part of being a good friend is using your right to say how stupid your best buddy’s smoking habit is.  Then Afterwards a good friend will also have the heart to tell them that they are willing to help them quit.  For any teen that is reading this, realize that you only have one body, and one life for that matter.  There are people that smoke their whole lives and still live to a very old age.  There are people that smoke their whole lives and find out they have lung cancer in their 30’s.  Believe it or not,  there are teens that start smoking and find out a year later that their habit gave them mouth, lung, or throat cancer.  Life can be very unforgiving and unfortunately no one can turn back time and change whats already been done.  As a Teen you have a choice, a right to stand up for what you believe, and most importantly you have a life to live.  Get the essential smoking facts.  Evaluate the consequences of smoking, do your research, and read up on what smoking can do to your health.  You owe it to yourself.

When taking a closer look at the chemical makeup inside of a cigarette, it is astonishing to see how many cancer causing ingredients make up the substance.  Over time, Cigarette companies have found their own ways of manipulating their product to enhance the consumers appeal.  By taking time to evaluate the harmful make up, people can choose for themselves whether this substance is of likely personal interest.

the most commonly known addictive chemical within a cigarette is nicotine.  In many cigarettes today, companies altered this chemical to make it more potent in the human body.  This process is called free basing nicotine.  This is similar to the way people manipulate other drugs to increase the desired effect.  In the case of cigarettes, when someone takes a drag, the absorption rate is much faster.  Tobacco leaves and barely are also key ingredients, but to much surprise they only make up about half of a cigarette.  Add-ons are what make up the other fifty percent.  A large portion of these add-ons consist of something called Recon.  Recon is short for reconstituted tobacco.  This is an accumulation of cigarettes that were sent back to the factory, tobacco stems, and tobacco dust from the factory floors.  All of these substances are gradually mixed together, filtered and distributed into single cigarettes.  The average cigarette usually contains over 4,000 chemicals.  These vary from sweeteners like chocolate and vanilla, to other addictive chemicals other like arsenic and lead .  Out of these 4,000 chemicals, 60 are known to be cancerous in the human body.  Some of these chemicals include, Acetone, Benzene, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia, Hydrogen Cyanide, Isoprene, Lead, Nickel, Nitric Oxide, and Methyl Ethyl Ketone.  When a person lights up a cigarette, the tobacco within it creates over 150,000,000,000 tar particles per cubic inch.  Imagine what this form of pollution does to the environment when there is over 1.2 billion smokers on the planet.  Better yet imagine what that tar does to the human lung over extended period of time.

Although listing the several chemicals within a cigarette may seem like a clutter of jargon, showing what those chemicals are used for in other products is fascinating.  For instance, one can find Nicotine in bug spray, methane in sewer gas, Cadmium in batteries, Ammonia in toilet Cleaner, Methanol in rocket fuel, and Toluene in many industrial solvents.

A casual smoker may have never known that all of these harmful chemicals were in a single drag.  Most of those chemicals will always stay in human body for the individuals entire life.