The Costs of Smoking

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The Costs of Smoking

Humans are the only animals to inhale smoke intentionally. Humans have

found many ways to inhale smoke, but there are no known benefits.

Cigarettes, the most popular method of inhalation, appear deceptively

basic, just a paper cylinder containing processed tobacco. In fact,

they are highly designed to deliver a steady dose of nicotine, from

the three main types of tobacco, virginia, burley and oriental, which

each contain varying levels of nicotine. Cigarettes also contain

thousands of other chemicals, though these include some which may seem

harmless, such as sugar, chocolate and vanilla, which are added to

make smoke appear milder and easier to inhale. However, even these

harmless substances, may become toxic when combined with other

substances. There have been many studies by medical professionals to

investigate the effects of the inhalation of smoke, nicotine and the

cocktail of chemicals, on our bodies. The physiological cost of

smoking is sustained by the highly addictive nature of nicotine, which

makes it difficult for the smoker to give up. This will be examined

later in the essay along with the reversal of damaging effects if the

smoker quits. The many damaging physiological effects on the human

body have been proven consistently over the past few decades,

including diseases of the circulatory and respiratory systems, various

cancers and premature ageing, which will now be discussed.

There are various diseases of the circulatory system, which may be

smoking related, the greatest 'killer' being coronary heart disease.

As soon as you inhale the smoke from a cigarette, it affects your

heart. In less th...

... middle of paper ...

...ts of smoking are clearly huge and indisputable, though this

essay has only dealt with the physiological affects. Smoking is also

extremely expensive, not only regarding the cost of the actual

cigarettes, but also the extra cost to health services having to treat

patients with smoking-related diseases. It has become increasingly

less socially acceptable to smoke in public, due to heightened

awareness of the affects of passive smoking. Hopefully, the decreasing

acceptance of smoking by the public will prevail until smoking is made

illegal in public. However the addictive nature of nicotine cannot be

under-estimated and even legal steps may have little effect on smokers

as they have continued to smoke for decades, knowing the damaging

costs.

www.ash.org.uk

Kent M. (2000) Advanced Biology. Oxford: University Press

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