Smoking: The Plague of America Throughout the past century smoking has become quite popular among the citizens of America. The tobacco industry made smoking appealing to the children of an entire generation and turned all of them into smokers, causing millions of deaths related to smoking. Cigarettes are a burden on the economy, they are responsible for millions of deaths, and are extremely addictive to young adults. Smoking is an epidemic on this country and should be banned for the betterment of future generations. Some would argue that cigarette smoking and other tobacco products are useful to the economy, bringing in billions every year in taxes on them. This is not untrue, but believe it or not, the economy suffers massively from
…show more content…
Some of these include: rat poison, carbon monoxide, cadmium (comes from batteries), and methanol (rocket fuel). There are hundreds of thousands of people that are hospitalized or killed by the illnesses that come with smoking. Smoking causes a number of very serious diseases such as: Heart disease, Cancer, and other lung-related illnesses. Smoking is the leading risk factor for heart-related illness such as a stroke. Bonnie Graves wrote an article about the effects of smoking. In her article she stated that, “In fact, smoking is the most dangerous coronary, or heart related, risk factor. It is directly responsible for at least 20% of all deaths from heart disease”(Graves). She states that smoking is detrimental to the health of the heart, and is the most responsible reason for heart failure. This means that smoking is directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths annually, and this being only from one of its diseases. Smoking is also an extremely large factor in cancer related death. Smoking accounts for approximately thirty percent of all lung cancer deaths in the U.S. Some of the less well known diseases caused by cancer include pneumonia, bronchitis, and emphysema (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This may not seem like a problem of much significance, but having the flu constantly, combined with the degradation of the lungs could cause unforeseen deaths. All in all, smoking accounts for 18% of stroke related death, 21% of all coronary disease related deaths, 30% of all cancer related deaths, and 87% of lung cancer related deaths (Graves). Such a staggering amount of deaths caused by smoking and yet, nothing has been done about it. Most likely the most benign effect of smoking is impotence in males. Studies have shown that male smokers are 50% more likely to become impotent than a nonsmoker. The effects do not just kill, it ruins the lives of millions of
Some of these include: rat poison, carbon monoxide, cadmium (comes from batteries), and methanol (rocket fuel). There are hundreds of thousands of people that are hospitalized or killed by the illnesses that come with smoking. Smoking causes a number of very serious diseases such as: Heart disease, Cancer, and other lung-related illnesses. Smoking is the leading risk factor for heart-related illness such as a stroke. Bonnie Graves wrote an article about the effects of smoking. In her article she stated that, “In fact, smoking is the most dangerous coronary, or heart related, risk factor. It is directly responsible for at least 20% of all deaths from heart disease”(Graves). She states that smoking is detrimental to the health of the heart, and is the most responsible reason for heart failure. This means that smoking is directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths annually, and this being only from one of its diseases. Smoking is also an extremely large factor in cancer related death. Smoking accounts for approximately thirty percent of all lung cancer deaths in the U.S. Some of the less well known diseases caused by cancer include pneumonia, bronchitis, and emphysema (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This may not seem like a problem of much significance, but having the flu constantly, combined with the degradation of the lungs could cause unforeseen deaths. All in all, smoking accounts for 18% of stroke related death, 21% of all coronary disease related deaths, 30% of all cancer related deaths, and 87% of lung cancer related deaths (Graves). Such a staggering amount of deaths caused by smoking and yet, nothing has been done about it. Most likely the most benign effect of smoking is impotence in males. Studies have shown that male smokers are 50% more likely to become impotent than a nonsmoker. The effects do not just kill, it ruins the lives of millions of