(Baccy)
Tobacco is the dried leaves of a plant that grows in may parts of the world. Tobacco contains a variety of chemicals, including nicotine which is a drug with a mild stimulant effect. Most tobacco is sold in the form of cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco (cigar and pipe tobacco is made from stronger darker tobacco).
History
The first record of tobacco smoking is from Mayan records from about 500 AD, although it is very likely that tobacco had been smoked for a long time before. It arrived in England in 1565 although it wasn't until 1586 that Sir Walter Raleigh brought a large amount back from the 'New World'. It was used at first purely for medical purposes, as it was thought that tobacco could cure almost everything. The pupils at Eton College were made to smoke a pipe of tobacco every morning to keep them healthy ! Cigarettes first arrived when British Troops arrived back from the Crimean War where the French and Turkish armies smoked tobacco rolled up in paper. When the automatic rolling machine was invented in 1881 it paved the way for cigarettes to be made on a huge scale. This was the start of the massive multinationals which produce the world's tobacco and cigarettes today.
Effects
The effect of tobacco on the body varies from person to person and it depends on the amount of the drug is taken, the way is taken, bodt's size and weight, previous usage of the drug, taking it with other drugs, person's mood and type of the drug.
Tobacco smoke consists of droplets of tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide and other gases. The amount of nicotine (the main active ingredient) and other substances that is absorbed through the lungs depends on how much and how deeply the smoke is inhaled. Nicotine is a stimulant and smokers feel that tobacco helps relieve boredom and tiredness and also helps reduce stress and anxiety. The effects are almost immediate but fade quickly, which encourages continual use. Some people may experience nausea and dizziness when they inhale tobacco smoke for the first few times. Small amounts of more than 4,000 other substances can be found in cigarette smoke, including some which are toxic and 43 which have been identified as being carcinogenic (causing cancer). Some of the substances found in cigarette smoke are acetone, amonia and hydrogen cyanide.
Immediate effects
Long term effects
Withdrawal symptoms
Smoking and pregnancy
Studies have indicated that smoking during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and illness of the child in early infancy. It has also associated with the sudden infant death syndrome (cot death).
Weight gain and give up smoking
Weight gain is not an automatic result of stopping smoking. If people put on weight it is usually because they eat more when they have stopped smoking. There is also evidence that a person's metabolism slows down when they stop using nicotine.
Passive smoking
Passive smoking is term used to describe the effect of tobacco smoke on people who don't smoke but spend time with smokers.
Mainstream smokeis smoke drawn through a cigarrete into a smoker's mouth and lungs. Second hand smokeis the smoke that drifts off the end of a cigarette into the air and is completely unfiltered. Some poisons in tobacco smoke are much more concentrated in sidestream smoke that in mainstram smoke.
The evidence on passive smoking suggests that it is a significant cause of ling cancer in non-smokers and a cause of acute asthma attacks in asthma sufferers. Children of smoking parents also have an increased risk of developing serious chest illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis.
