Young people today experience a wide range of illicit substances at relatively easy access. Fake ID, getting someone older to purchase it for you, buying it off the streets, there are so many ways to possess illicit materials. But one, which affects young people in a very permanent and poisonous way, is smoking.
Nature: Before one can delve into what effect smoking/cigarettes, have on the body you must understand what a cigarette contains. One cigarette contains over 4000 chemicals including some that cause cancer.
Nicotine A very powerful poison. It is extremely addictive, more so than Heroin or marijuana.
Hydrogen Cyanide This extremely lethal poison is contained in suicide pills and was used in gas chambers during the second world war.
Carbon Monoxide also an additive in exhaust fumes from cars. Reduces the oxygen carrying capability of the blood.
Tar This is an obvious one, it is used to make roads, and also causes stains on smokers' fingers, teeth and lung tissue.
Metals - Nickel, arsenic (also used as ant poison) and cadmium (used in car batteries).
All these harmful chemicals can have extremely destructive consequences on your body. They can cause lung, nose, neck and mouth cancer. They lower the bodies ability to carry oxygen thus resulting in frequent loss of breath, make teeth and hands turn yellow, causes heart disease, are incredibly addictive, makes breath and hair smell rancid, and if a woman is pregnant, can have severe repercussions on the babies development.
HEALTHY LUNG SMOKERS LUNG
Cause/Risk Factors
Young people are extremely susceptible to peer pressure. As such, many of them are pressured into trying smoking at least once. Many will find it repulsive but man...
... middle of paper ...
...y young girls read anyway.
Cure/Prevention
Anti smoking campaigns and products are all over the world, attempting to bring to the attention of the public (especially youths) the vile consequences of smoking and the harm it can do to others
They come in two varieties, programs aimed at preventing people to start smoking, and programs which attempt to encourage people to quit smoking. One such program in Australia is the Quitline, as well as many ads specifically designed for young people showing how good life can be without smoking.
Many public places have introduced smoke free zones, especially in places where young people may be mingling such as movie theatres and fast food restaurants. This sign on the left has become commonplace in many public places and is one of the most universally recognised symbols In the world, right up there with the red cross.
Have you ever wondered what was in your cigarette, cigar, cigarillo and chewing tobacco? Do you know how Tobacco affects your body? Do you know about nicotine? Tobacco contains over 200 chemicals, 60 are extremely bad for you.
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Tobacco companies should be prevented from using advertising tactics that target teenagers. There has always been controversy as to how tobacco companies should prevent using advertising tactics to target teenagers. As controversial as this is tobacco companies shouldn’t advertise teen smoking. Many teens may be lured to believe cigarette advertising because it has been part of the American Culture for years, magazine ads and the media target young people, and these companies receive a drastic increase financially; however, the advertising by these cigarette companies has disadvantages such as having to campaign against their own company, limiting their cigarette advertising and becoming a controversial dilemma as to encouraging teenagers to smoke. From billboards to newspaper advertisements, cigarette promotions started becoming part of the American Culture.
Every year in the United States, more than 480,000 people die from tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke; consequently, making this the leading cause of preventable death in this country. People are usually introduced to smoking at a young age; mostly around the preteen years. During this critical time preteen are transitioning from middle school to high school; teens at this age find it a little harder fitting in with others all while forming their own sense of identity. Preteens only pick up the habit of smoking to cope with these challenges. What these teens do not know is that smoking at an early age only increases their chances of suffering from a lifelong addiction. To help assuage the situation the Nicotinell anti-smoking organization
There has been an expediential growth in the number of teenager’s beginning to smokes do to facts such as curiousness, peer
As per the American Heart Association in 2013, an expected 23 percent of grown-up men and 18 percent of grown-up ladies in the United States are smokers. What’s even more troubling is the prevalence of juvenile smoking in our society. juvenile smoking is a very real danger among U.S. youngsters and high schoolers. About 25 percent of U.S. secondary school understudies are smokers, and an extra 8 percent use smokeless tobacco items, for example, snuff and plunge. But what is most disheartening, is that 30 percent of all juvenile smokers will become addicted and suffer health related complications due to prolonged smoking. Numerous components play into a kid's choice to attempt tobacco. A craving to seem "cooler", more advanced, or to
Teen smoking has been increasing since 1991. There are economic, psychological and sociological factors that play an important role in this increase.
...ation routes and the little air sacs, known as alveoli, found in your lungs. Not just would it be able to hurt your organs, smoking can bring about malignancy anyplace in your body, from bladder to cervix, and even kidney ("Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking"). The rundown goes on.
In recent years, smoking has started to take over the lives of many teenagers. The number of teenagers smoking has increased dramatically in the last several years. This is a major problem because smoking can lead to sickness and major diseases that can lead to death. Teens tend to participate in this while out of the presence of an adult figure. Although teens should not be smoking in the first place, an adult figure should be around to help insure that their children are doing the right things, even when they are behind sealed doors with their peers. Teenagers as they mature become a model for younger children and when they set the example of smoking can ruin their respectable image to the children that look up to them.
The American Lung Association states “There are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes” (What's in a Cigarette? American Lung Association). Also when burned, cigarette smoke creates chemicals that affect our planet. “At least 50 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are poisonous” (What's in a Cigarette? American Lung Association). The American Lung Association goes on and lists a few of the chemicals and gives a brief example for what they are used for.
used to make cigarettes: Uranium, water, Carbon Dioxide. These chemicals are also used to make nuclear
According to Slater (2006), many risk-taking teenagers may believe in the use of smoking or alcohol is part of defining who they are. The adolescences who have a reputation of being “cool” or rebellious teenagers believe that they need to smoke to maintain their reputation. Smoking is not considered a health hazard in all cultures. For instance, a young child whose parents are involved in health and wellness will be taught how undesirable smoking is. On the other hand, the family, where the parents smoke, a young child may not be taught about the dangers smoking. Smoking can be a part of certain cultures and at the same time be an example of what not to do in another culture.
Teen Smoking Teen smoking. Those two words mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. To some it means nothing. They are just two meaningless words found under T and S in the dictionary. To others it is as if these words symbolize some sort of treason or crime against society. Yet to others it is just another stereotype to be placed under. And to some it is a salvation. An escape. Unfortunately I am writing this paper so you will get my positions on teen smoking rather than other peoples. Teen smoking gathers a lot of emotions when I think about it. It makes me very angry sometimes. My first draft of this was good but I saw myself getting angry and lashing out on everyone, so I revised it. But enough of that, I find teen smoking to be a very controversial subject. To be completely honest with you I am smoking right now as I am writing this. Obviously I am a smoker. I am 17 years old and I am a smoker. In the late 1990’s, the statistics showed that approximately 25% of teens smoke. That’s one out of every four teenagers. High school is a tough time for teens. These years are critical to a teens future. This explains why a vast majority of smokers start at 16 years or younger with the most common age being 14 years old(freshman). It has also been proven also that teens who score lower in school smoke more than higher scoring students do. It seems that everyone smokes in our school. Our school is overrun with smokers. It is right now at least 50% smokers and 65% if you count the people who will smoke before their high school career is up. We practically encourage it. I mean Fireman’s Field practically condones teen smoking. Teen smoking is defiantly a problem in our school, as well as schools all over the United States. I feel that teen smoking is a huge problem. I feel that too many teenagers smoke cigarettes. It is something that needs to get dealt with. But before I get into that I should probably start with the causes of teen smoking. There are several factors that start teens on smoking cigarettes. There has to be considering that over 1 million new teenagers will start smoking annually. The most common is peer pressure.
Smoking cigarettes is a very deadly addiction that, unfortunately, 42.1 million adults in the United States and 6.4 million children have. The reason why so many people get addicted to cigarettes because of nicotine. Medicinenet.com says that nicotine is “Made by the tobacco plant or produced synthetically. Nicotine has powerful pharmacologic effects (including increased heart rate, heart stroke volume, and oxygen consumption by the heart muscle), as well as powerful psychodynamic effects (such as euphoria, increased alertness, and a sense of relaxation). Nicotine is also powerfully addictive.”
Today, there has been an increase in the amount of teenagers who smoke half a pack a day of cigarettes. The number of seniors in high school who have tried cigarettes has decreased over the years, but the number of those who smoke occasionally or half a pack or more a day, has increased. There are many factors as to why teenagers smoke including advertising and teen behavior. There are also a few ways we can stop teenagers from wanting to smoke. Therefore, we need to make teens aware that smoking is not good for you and it is not cool and we need to figure out why teens think it is cool. We need to find out why teens smoke and how we can make the