To Err is Human, To Smoke is Risk
Imagine being diagnosed with pneumonia or lung cancer. Better yet, how would it feel to have a newborn infant who was born with a defect because of the decision to smoke? For many, these issues are popping up as an effect of something some say is just a �bad habit.� Is that really all it is? A bad habit? Inhaling tobacco leads to serious health risks. How can we prevent this from continuing? We must target tobacco companies and put an end to the production of tobacco products.
We must bring an end to the production of cigarettes, just one of the many tobacco products available on the market today. Smoking remains the leading cause of death and disease in America. Smoking kills 430,000 people annually in the U.S. and causes ninety percent of all lung cancers. Lung cancer is the number one cause of death in women. One out of every four cancer deaths in women is caused by tobacco-related lung cancer. Lung cancer rates have risen in the past few decades in men by 1,200 percent and in women by 500 percent (Braun and Perry 1-2).
Tobacco-related death and disease represent the longest and largest epidemic in our nation�s history. Mortality is related to many diseases such as heart, cancer, and chronic lung diseases. Smoking complicates surgery, delays surgical wound healing,
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and complicates hip and knee replacement procedures. It also is the cause for one-half of all hospitalizations for pneumonia, spontaneous abortions, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and many birth defects (Braun and Perry 2). These diseases do not only affect the person craving the next cigarette. What about the innocent victim exposed to second-hand smoking?
Smoke-related diseases have increased twenty to eighty percent in lifelong non-smokers. Chronic exposure is the third leading cause of death and disease in the U.S. Second-hand smoke kills about 100,000 people every year (Braun, Perry 1-2). These statistics can be stopped or lessened if we put a damper on the tobacco-manufacturing industry. We can also help future generations.
To stop the tobacco industry altogether let us not only look at the smoke-related diseases concerning mature adults, but also the diseases concerning newborn children. More than nineteen percent of women smoke while pregnant and 530,000 pregnant patients annually continue to smoke after entering prenatal care. Increased incidences of intrauterine growth retardation, small for gestational age (SGA), low birth weight (LBW), prenatal mortality, and sudden infant death syndrome have repeatedly occurred in women who smoke during pregnancy. Smoking is also responsible for fifteen percent of all preterm births. It is horrible to think about how many children lose their lives because of a mother�s wrong doing.
The newborn never gets the chance to live their life because their mothers never thought about the effects of smoking, while pregnant, might have on their child. The cost of care for a low birth weight (LBW), premature, or small for gestational age (SGA)
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infant far outweighs the costs associated with a normal birth outcome. The cost for these newborns ranges from $ 4,256 - $ 8,640. A normal birth typically costs under $ 2000. It is unsafe for pregnant women to smoke. We must stop tobacco companies from ruining lives (Mayhew, Perrin, Struchen 1).
In order to stop the tobacco companies from using their products to harm adults and children alike we must think about the impact the tobacco companies have on our communities. The tobacco industry is not only harmful on an individual level but on a community level as well. The tobacco industry is public health enemy number one according to tobacco control advocates. Tobacco is a health threat and a powerful economic force that generates billions of dollars annually in sales and even more in tax revenues to governments. Tobacco is a commodity that will kill 500 to 600 million people today (Warner 1). Communities are becoming under populated as an effect to the high mortality rates. The tobacco companies are not selling tobacco for the higher good of all humanity and they must be stopped.
The tobacco industry needs to be stopped altogether. We should put the tobacco companies out of business by educating the public of the risks and effects of smoking. Tobacco use causes serious risks as well as death. If one teaspoon of rat poison can kill, should one-half teaspoon be taken? No because it is known that poison kills. Well, tobacco is the same. It is just another poison. The use of tobacco products puts us in danger of death and disease.
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Works Cited :
Braun, Wendy and Patrick Perry. �Tobacco: making a killing; smoking remains
The leading cause of death and disease in America, costing taxpayers
$ 150 billion annually in health�.� (1 July 2002): 7 pgs. Find Articles.
September 17, 2003 <http://www.findarticles.com>.
Mayhew, Dione, Karen M. Perrin and Wendy Struchen. �An Analysis of a
Healthy Start Smoking Cessation Program.� (22 Sept. 2002): 8 pgs.
Find Articles. September 16, 2003 <http://www.findarticles.com>.
Warner, Kenneth E. �Tobacco (Think Again).� (1 May 2002): 7 pgs.
Find Articles. September 17, 2003 <http://www.findarticles.com>.