Teenage Smoking

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Teenage Smoking

When I went to visit my grandmother in the hospital, she was critically ill. I heard the doctor say that she would have a much better chance of survival if she had not been a smoker most of her life. I made the decision then that I would not smoke. Every day more than 3,000 teenagers become regular smokers. That number translates to more than 1 million teenagers a year. About one third of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease. Cigarettes kill more than 400,000 Americans every year. A person who smokes a pack or more of cigarettes each day will live about seven fewer years than a nonsmoker. Further, smoking hurts young people's physical performance and endurance. Smoking in young people can hamper both the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung functioning. Young people who regularly smoke cough more, have increased phlegm, and more frequency and severity of respiratory illnesses. The Surgeon General's report found that the younger a person starts smoking cigarettes, the more likely he or she is to become strongly addicted to nicotine.

Almost ninety percent of adult smokers begin smoking at or before age eighteen. Currently, about 4.5 million children ages 12 to 17 are smokers, and teenage smoking is still on the rise. Tobacco companies spend roughly $5 billion each year, which is over $13 million every day, promoting their products. Numerous tobacco industry documents that have recently become public because of lawsuits established which the tobacco industry perceives teenagers as a key market for their products. Because of this perception, the tobacco industry has studied the smoking habits of teenagers and developed advertising campaigns aimed at them. One solut...

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..., then the health problems associated with smoking will escalate, and there will be more than 400,000 tobacco-related deaths each year. If no one in the world smoked, there would be no tobacco-related illnesses, which include second-hand smoke. Additionally, if no one in the world smoked, there would be no pressure for teenagers to smoke.

Works Cited

- Cigarettes—What’s in them? Tobacco Fact Sheet. 1997. <http://www.

cancercouncil.com.au/cncrinfo/schools/students/smoking_cigarettes.htm>.

- Effects of Second-Hand Smoke. Access Health, Inc. 1996. <https://www.your

Health.com/ahl/1842.html.>

- Teenage Smoking. Kristin Cappon and Kevin Cronk. 2000. <http:// www.

imcnet.net/sybermag/features/smoking.htm.>

- Tobacco—Health Facts. WHO OMS. 1999 April. <http://www.who.int/

inf-fs/en/fact221.html>.

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