What do you Gain by Smoking?

[andy foonz]

The scope of OUT SPAM! seems to have increased drastically. This is because of the far reaching effects of smoking. The diseases caused by smoking are many in number and are intense. The intense effect of smoking is due to the presence of ingredients like nicotine, acrolein, tar, nitrosamine, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, radioactive carcinogens etc. which cause cancer and other diseases. 87% of lung cancer cases are known to be caused due to smoking. Second hand smoking is also known to increase the chances of lung cancer by 20 to 30%.

Smoker’s cough and tar lungs are caused by smoking. These diseases are caused due to the presence of tar in cigarettes and tobacco products. When a person smokers, tar begins to accumulate in the lungs. When this accumulation becomes too high to remove, tar lungs develop. In the same way smoker’s cough is also developed because coughing is a way for the lungs to remove the tar deposits.

Heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke and atherosclerosis are other diseases caused due to smoking. These are caused due to the constriction of blood vessels due to the presence of nicotine in the blood. Smoking increases the risks of heart attack by 5 times. Risks of heart attack due to second hand smoking are about 25 to 30%.

Diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema are diseases caused due to the long term exposure to cyanide and carbon monoxide present in cigarette smoke.

The infections caused by smoking are chronic bronchitis, common cold, pneumococcal disease and other pulmonary and respiratory infections. Periodontitis, halitosis or bad breath, leukoplakia, asthma, allergies etc are other diseases caused by smoking.

 

[nerdygirl]

What's wrong with smoking? I'm smoking hot, after all.

 

[Joseph]

I think it makes me look sophisticated!

 

[LGH1288]

A filthy, disgusting, stupid addiction.

 

[Dessa]

Smoking does make people look cool. But not me, unfortunately. Although I guess it's to my advantage. Well,I guess, he cares about the health of those who smoke. That's a really nice spammer.

 

[LGH1288]

I think it makes me look sophisticated!

Smoking does make people look cool.

~~~~~THE SMOKER'S BODY~~~~

 

[Sci-Fi]

LGH that made me throw-up a little in my mouth.

What a nice spammer though, he/she/it was thinking of the health of others. LOL Personally I find smoking disgusting and a turn off. I don't think it makes anyone look cool at all. I never understood that in high school.

 

[LGH1288]

LGH that made me throw-up a little in my mouth.

What a nice spammer though, he/she/it was thinking of the health of others. LOL Personally I find smoking disgusting and a turn off. I don't think it makes anyone look cool at all. I never understood that in high school.

Hello there Sci-Fi ~ It's your humble correspondent "Ol' Killjoy" reporting in again! No, there's nothing glamorous about smoking. With all that's known about the serious, devastating health problems caused by inhaling those toxic poisons in tobacco products, anyone who still smokes is an absolute idiot. Those of you who think smoking is "OK" or "cool" should get with the program. Stop! Don't smoke! LGH

 

[edgecrusher]

LGH that made me throw-up a little in my mouth.

What a nice spammer though, he/she/it was thinking of the health of others. LOL Personally I find smoking disgusting and a turn off. I don't think it makes anyone look cool at all. I never understood that in high school.

thats pretty much how i always looked at it too.

 

[Sci-Fi]

My uncle lost his wife to cancer, they also lost their dog. It was riddled with cancer and it was always in the house breathing in that second hand smoke. My dad was a heavy drinker and smoker, he died of a heart attack. My grandmother used to be a heavy smoker, she had several heart attacks and the doctor told her she had to quit smoking. She quit when she found out my brother was allergic to it and was so much happier. She found food tasted so much better, she could go for longer walks which she loved, and she no longer had heart attacks. She quit cold turkey too! If she didn't quit we probably would have lost her before we did.

Smoking is bad for you and everyone around you! Please everyone who smokes stop smoking!

 

[Sean]

I've been thinking of starting,

It gives me an excuse to come and go as I please.

 

[Badjedidude]

It makes you look COOL like this guy:

 

[LucieMay]

And what do you gain by NOT smoking? An eternal life? A guarantee you're gonna live to 100? Nope. There's a one in three chance you'll drop dead of cancer whatever you do. And if the C doesn't get you, something else does! Newsflash: "LIFE KILLS YOU!" woo way to go non-smokers! GUESS WHAT?! My mum died at 53 of cancer- she never smoked. Today i attended a relative's funeral, he died at 46, he never smoked! I could go on and on and on.

I don't think anyone really thinks smoking is cool any more. It's just one of the many things people do to their bodies which has damaging effects. Why? because every person on this planet is flawed. It's the nature of being human.

I get that non-smokers don't want to breath in smoke, yeah yeah, fair enough. But I really don't see why it troubles them what other people choose to do to their bodies and why they choose to judge other people. Look at your own life first but you stand on your high horse and judge everyone else.

---

LGH that made me throw-up a little in my mouth.

What a nice spammer though, he/she/it was thinking of the health of others. LOL Personally I find smoking disgusting and a turn off. I don't think it makes anyone look cool at all. I never understood that in high school.

Hello there Sci-Fi ~ It's your humble correspondent "Ol' Killjoy" reporting in again! No, there's nothing glamorous about smoking. With all that's known about the serious, devastating health problems caused by inhaling those toxic poisons in tobacco products, anyone who still smokes is an absolute idiot. Those of you who think smoking is "OK" or "cool" should get with the program. Stop! Don't smoke! LGH

I'm an "absolute idiot"? Nope I'm a realistic. Life's a cunt. There's a very real chance I'll drop down dead at any age so there's no point in kidding myself that if I do x, y and z that I'm going to live a long healthy life. Life is a lottery. And even if I do live to an old age, there's a chance I'll spend the last fifth of my life in a state of physical and mental degeneration, however healthily I've spent my life. I think the idiots are the ones who still think that there is anything you can do to prevent early death and prolong life. There isn't.

 

[Minus]

It could be because it is seen to cost society as a whole. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims smokers cost the United States $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, and an additional $97 billion a year in lost productivity.

Total annual public and private health care expenditures caused by smoking: $96 billion
- Annual Federal and state government smoking-caused Medicaid payments: $30.9 billion
[Federal share: $17.6 billion per year. States’ share: $13.3 billion]
- Federal government smoking-caused Medicare expenditures each year: $27.4 billion
- Other federal government tobacco-caused health care costs (e.g. through VA health care): $9.6 billion.

Then it could just be that they like to tell people how they think they should do things.

 

[LucieMay]

Smoking isn't the only cause of self-inflicted disease... you have obesity, alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, self harmers/other mental disorders, sports related injuries, car crashes... this doesn't make smoking "right", it just doesn't make it any less wrong than any of the aforementioned injuries and resulting cost.

 

[LGH1288]

.
Risks of Thirdhand Cigarette Smoke Can Linger: Study Shows Nicotine That Clings to Surfaces Can Be Inhaled Months After a Smoker Leaves an Area
.
By Brenda Goodman
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
.
Jan. 13, 2011 -- Thirdhand smoke, the nicotine residue that is left behind on furniture, walls, and carpeting after a cigarette has been smoked in a room, can become airborne a second time, a new study shows.
.
The resulting particulates, a toxic mix of ozone and nicotine, are so small that they can easily penetrate into the deepest parts of the lung, and over time, scientists say, could contribute to breathing problems like asthma or even cancer.
.
“Quantitatively, exposure via secondhand smoke is much greater and a more likely concern with regards to health,” says study researcher Yael Dubowski, PhD, a senior lecturer at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. “However, exposure to harmful compounds via thirdhand smoke and thirdhand smoke transformations is an additional source for skin and lung exposure.”
.
What’s more, Dubowski says, because ozone can continue to pull nicotine off surfaces and back into the air for months, exposure to thirdhand smoke may continue long after smoking in the area has ceased.
.
A Third Way to Be Exposed to Cigarette Smoke
.
It’s long been known that mainstream and secondhand smoke can contribute to health problems ranging from cancer to heart disease to birth defects.
.
Only recently have scientists have begun to measure and understand the dangers of exposure to thirdhand smoke.
.
“There’s nicotine in tobacco smoke, obviously. The portion of that nicotine that’s not absorbed by the human body, that nicotine goes someplace, and one of the places it goes is that it sticks on the surfaces of the room that you’re in,” says James F. Pankow, PhD, professor of chemistry and civil and environmental engineering at Portland State University in Oregon.
.
Previous research has shown that thirdhand smoke can rub off onto skin and even be ingested if food is eaten that’s been exposed to smoke. It was also shown that dust could carry thirdhand smoke to the lungs.
.
The new study, which is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, shows that nicotine residues can interact with other indoor air pollutants and become airborne again.
.
“Nicotine can come back off of that surface to react with ozone,” says Pankow, “It forms particles.”
.
Those particles, known as secondary organic aerosols, are so small that they may be inhaled deeply into the lungs, where they are hard for the body to clear.
.
Studying Cigarette Residues
.
For the study, Dubowski and her team impregnated three different kinds of materials, cellulose (a proxy for plant-based building materials like wood), paper, and cotton, with nicotine and exposed them to ozone under dry and humid conditions.
.
They were able to see that nicotine remained on the surfaces to be wiped off onto skin or clothing.
.
They were also able to measure, however, that nicotine could “desorb” off a surface back into the air where it might be inhaled on its own or react with other indoor air pollutants like ozone to form particulates.
.
The researchers also found that humid conditions appeared to be somewhat protective against exposure to the products of thirdhand smoke.
.
“This may not be very significant under normal indoor conditions where relative humidity is governed by comfort and kept around 60%,” says Dubowski. “However, in airplanes, where relative humidity is particularly low, less than 20%, and ozone concentrations can reach higher than 100 parts per billion, the potential for exposure to products of thirdhand smoke products may be greater.”
.
© 2011 WebMD, LLC.

 

[Minus]

Smoking isn't the only cause of self-inflicted disease... ..

I have never told a smoker to quit and it is unlikely that i ever will. It is their decision. You were asking why it troubles some other people and i was offering a guess. I couldn't even say if it is a valid guess or not.

Still I really don't buy the there are other self inflicted diseases as any argument that negates the concern some may have. It isn't like the people are promoting one type of self harm while disdaining another.

 

[SophiaGrace]

Answer: Nothing.

Watching your grandmother die of ephysema because her avieoli couldnt process oxygen anymore was a very painful experience.

I went and sat by her bed in between my college classes while she was unconscious due to an infection (she also had diabetes), I'd hold her hand, she'd open her eyes and mumble incoherent things. Listening to her labored breathing while she said to me and my brother: "You are such wonderful grandkids. I love you. I'll see you in heaven." brought me to tears. That was the last thing I remember her saying to me.

 

[Peter Lorre]

I don't get smoking either. Sure, I've smoked the odd cigarette before aswell as a few other things. And while I might have enjoyed some of those, it still doesn't weigh up to certain things that I've seen. How I've seen certain people suffer...

In a way, I can really relate to what SophiaGrace went through. So no thanks, no smoking for me.

 

[LGH1288]

I feel very badly for a child who has a parent that smokes. The secondhand & thirdhand smoke is a health hazard to the child, then later in life the child will probably suffer all the additional health burdens of the parent. IMO this is another example of absolute idiocy and contemptible selfishness. LGH