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Effects From Smoking Cigarettes

The Quit-Smoking-Stop website states that each year hundreds of thousands of individuals around the globe die from illnesses caused from smoking cigarettes. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), approximately 443,600 people in America will die this year from smoking-related diseases. Smoking kills more Americans every year than AIDS, car accidents, alcohol, homicide, suicide and illegal drug use combined.

  1. Warning

    • Smoking cigarettes often involves an addiction to nicotine and follows with a barrage of health concerns. According to the Quit-Smoking-Stop website, 50 percent of lifetime smokers will die from smoking cigarettes and half of these deaths will occur in middle age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), estimates that male smokers lose an average of 13.2 years off of their lives and women will lose about 14.5 years because of smoking alone.

    Addiction

    • Nicotine, an additive found in tobacco, is addicting. According to the ACS, 70 percent of smokers want to quit and about 40 percent try to quit every year, but addiction to nicotine makes it difficult. Only 4 to 7 percent succeed in quitting without help. Cigarettes are physically and mentally addictive, and the spell most smokers find themselves under is difficult to break. The body relies on the drug, and despite health concerns, social pressure and nasty side effects, smokers usually keep on puffing.

    Cancer

    • A U.S. Surgeon General's report stated that "Cigarette smoking is the major cause of cancer mortality (death) in the United States." Smoking is the major cause of the following cancers: lung, larynx, oral, pharynx, bladder and esophagus. It is also linked to cancer of the pancreas, cervix, stomach, kidney and some leukemias and, according to the ACS, is directly responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. Interestingly, lung cancer is the most difficult cancer to treat, the cancer that kills the most men and women every year and also the cancer that is often preventable.

    Chronic Diseases

    • Smoking does not always kill, sometimes it just maims. In 2000, the CDC said about 8.6 million people had at least one chronic illness because they smoked or had smoked. Diseases from smoking include chronic bronchitis, heart attacks, stokes and emphysema. These devastating diseases can take away a person's ability to enjoy life, move around easily, breath and relax.

    Other Illnesses

    • Cancer, heart disease and emphysema do not affect everyone, but smaller, more subtle illnesses can attack and keep a smoker from feeling well. Aneurysms, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, gum disease, bone thinning, peptic ulcers, cataracts and macular degeneration are conditions linked to smoking. Cigarettes can also damage a woman's reproductive system, making it more difficult to conceive. According to the ACS, women who smoke have a higher rate of miscarriages, still births, babies with low birth weights and early deliveries.

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