Cause and Effect of Cigarette Smoking

It is mandatory for this message to be printed on every pack because of how serious the effects of smoking are and how easy it is to become addicted to smoking them. There are millions of campaigns and advertisements against cigarette smoking communicating to the world that this terrible habit causes many illnesses ultimately leading to death. But a threat to health obviously does not seem to be a good enough reason for people to quit anymore, people somehow block this important information and ignore all of the possible consequences they are facing themselves with when they continue to smoke.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss some of the many effects of cigarette smoking, including the broadly mentioned possibility of developing cancer or dying. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. Cigarette smoking is directly responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer cases in the United States annually. Both non small cell lung cancer and small lung cancer can be caused by cigarette smoking, cigar smoking and second hand smoke.

It can be difficult to diagnosis lung cancer early because the symptoms often do not present themselves aggressively until the disease is in advanced stages, which puts people in an even worse situation. If cancer is found, the doctor will take the time to do some staging which is determining whether it has spread to other parts of the body such as the brain or bones. One of the stages is referred to as Stage 0 non-small cell lung cancer which is also called carcinoma.

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It is the earliest stage that lung cancer can typically be detected but unfortunately for people bound to consume this cancer, it is rarely found at this stage, and when it is, it is normally an incidental finding when testing is done for some other reason. Lung cancer should be completely curable at this stage, meaning not in all cases. With that being said, many people with stage 0 lung cancer, have or will develop second primary cancers. 20 percent of all deaths from heart disease in the United States are directly related to cigarette smoking.

The heart is the most important organ in the body, pumping blood, life-giving oxygen and nutrients to all tissues of the body. If the pumping action of the heart becomes inefficient, vital organs like the brain and kidneys suffer, like a chain reaction. Death will occur within minutes if the heart stops working altogether. It is astonishing how life itself is completely dependent on the efficient operation of the heart and people still decide to take up the habit of smoking, leading to this disease.

There are many kinds of heart disease, each of them affecting the heart in several ways, one of them being coronary artery disease which is directly related to smoking. Coronary artery disease is atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries, creating blockages in the vessels that nourish the heart itself. Atherosclerosis occurs when the arteries become clogged and narrowed, restricting blood flow, ultimately starving the heart of oxygen and other vital nutrients it depends on to work properly. Lungs become damaged due to reactions to irritants entering the airways and alveoli and lead to emphysema.

The major cause of emphysema is smoking. When people are exposed to cigarette smoke, the air sacs of the lungs create defensive cells known as macrophages, which eat the inhaled particles. Macrophages are stimulated to release materials which can destroy the proteins that allow the lungs to expand and contract, called collagen. This causes difficulty for a person to exhale so the next breath taken is started with more air in the lungs. The trapped old air takes up space so the alveoli, tiny air sacs in lungs, are unable to fill with enough fresh air to supply the body with the appropriate oxygen.

This causes someone to be short of breath and diminishes the ability to properly exhale. Will all of the information provided in the world and all of the advertisement including the warning posted on every pack of cigarettes against the use of these harmful vises, you would think we would have less smokers, but that is incorrect. You would also assume that with all the damage that comes with smoking over the years, including death; that we would have fewer smokers, but again, that is incorrect. People still insist on putting themselves in harm’s way and continue to be smokers.

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