Causes Of Smoking Essay

The Cause, Effect and Consequences of Smoking

Tobacco is one of the most dangerous, yet legal substances in the world, despite that it’s effects affect people in the long run. It is responsible for many diseases, premature death, and it’s the largest cause of preventable death in the world. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco consumption kills nearly 6 million people each year, including more than half a million non-smokers (WHO 6). Tobacco can be consumed in various ways, for example: smoking, chewing and eating. The smoke produced from tobacco contains thousands of chemicals, which a few are carcinogens, meaning they’re known to cause Cancer. Chewing and eating tobacco have less carcinogens, but they’re still harmful. In this essay, one will try to illustrate the behavior of smoking tobacco through 3 different fields of study. The only species in the world that practice this behavior are humans, and the reason for consuming tobacco varies amongst people. The difference comes from how people we’re raised, how people are treated, and how the environment affects people to start smoking.

The anthropological view helps us understand human nature and factors that makes an individual initiate smoking better, since we’re the only species in the world that use tobacco. In a study led by Gary Giovino and his research team from the University of Buffalo, they concluded that despite various methods implanted to control the consumption of tobacco, it’s still used by a big percentage of people worldwide. “In the 14 GATS countries, UK, and USA, we estimated that there were 852 million tobacco users, made up of 661 million smokers and 247 million smokeless tobacco users (56 million smoked and used smokeless tobacco). Of 572 mill...

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... novelty and enjoyment (Olga 68).

Sociological view interprets tobacco use as a behavior that’s put into motion by external sources. If in Anthropological prospective we looked at how tobacco is consumed by different people, this chapter will reveal impact of a society on the behavior of tobacco use. Society can have a big impact on a person’s decision of smoking, but smoking can also facilitate social interactions. Peer pressure contributes a lot to the initiation or quitting of tobacco use. Negative peer pressure encourages people to smoke, while positive peer pressure limits and discontinues this behavior. “Various sectors of Chinese society have encouraged smoking among men as a means of development, both economic and personal.” (Xiao 1617). It’s such encouragement that have insinuated the use of cigarettes, into people’s daily lives and made it a ‘delicacy’.