Talk (Part 1):
Smoking – a dangerous addiction
These days,
most, if not all, people are aware of the dangers of smoking. Why
then do so many smokers persist with a habit they know is slowly killing
them? It is estimated that there are now 1.5 billion people around
the world who smoke.
It has recently
been reported that some 4 out of 5 smokers wish to quit but are unable
to do so. It seems that a minimum level of nicotine is required in
the bloodstream of a smoker in order to prevent withdrawal symptoms
occurring. This level, equivalent to inhaling the smoke from 10 cigarettes
a day, is enough to prevent withdrawal in even the most addicted smoker.
So another vital question remains – why do some people smoke more
than is necessary to satisfy their addiction?
In the US,
each year, smoking accounts for approximately 350,000 preventable
deaths – almost 8 times the total number of US soldiers killed throughout
the entire Vietnam War. In that country, smoking kills 7 times the
number of people who die in car accidents. Yet even these horrifying
statistics are not enough to make the majority of smokers quit. Even
though tobacco smoke has been recognised for five decades as a dangerous
carcinogen, causing cancer in the lung and damaging vital tissues
and organs of the body, smoking remains the most serious form of drug
addiction worldwide.
A recent
survey claimed that 87.5% of smokers reported smoking to be a pleasurable
activity, and it may be that nicotine stimulates the pleasure centres
of the brain. It takes only 7 seconds of puffing for one quarter of
the nicotine inhaled to reach the brain and have the desired effect.
Since the instant pleasure afforded by smoking is clearly too great
a temptation for most people to resist, the lesson seems clear – don't
start smoking.
Talk (Part 2):
Smoking – the risks to health
The risks of smoking are so well-accepted that insurance companies
make smokers pay more life insurance than non-smokers. The risks are
directly in proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked and the
amount of tar they contain.
Smoking
causes 3 major health problems: heart disease, stroke and cancer.
The way in which smoking contributes to heart disease and stroke is
closely linked – what happens is the gases in tobacco smoke cause
the blood to thicken. The blood cells tend to stick together and can
form a clot. If the clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain, the result
is a stroke, which usually paralyses the body. If the clot blocks
an artery in the heart, the result is a heart attack.
The risk
of cancer is greater for all smokers. In non-smokers and smokers alike,
the immune system works tirelessly to kill cells which have become
potentially cancerous. These pre-cancerous cells can easily become
cancerous with further attacks from toxic substances. Since constant
smoking seriously affects the ability of the immune system to do its
job, cancer, especially of the lung, is inevitable in all smokers
given enough time.
But perhaps
the most feared risks are those to the unborn. Women who smoke are
subjecting their unborn children to a greater risk of premature birth
and birth defects. Also, the body weight of these children is likely
to be a good deal less than normal. In addition, they may grow up
to be shorter than other children. Even a child's behavioural problems
may be linked to the smoking habit of the mother.
If you are
in doubt about the dangers of smoking, visit your local hospital.
Almost half the number of patients will have diseases directly attributable
to smoking.