The Downside of Traditional Cigarettes

We all see the labels posted on cigarette packs: Warning! Cigarette Smoking Can Cause Cancer! And its no wonder they cause cancer, cigarettes contain tobacco which in turn contains carcinogens or cancer causing substances.

Studies have shown that although most of the 599 additives found in a normal cigarette can be found in most processed foods, the act of burning these substances causes changes the properties of the chemicals, producing more than 4,000 different compounds. Cigarette smoking has caused 90% of lung cancers, not including other diseases like emphysema, cardio vascular diseases and some pulmonary infections. In addition to this, cigarette smoking is a major contributing factor to increasing risks of heart attacks, diabetes and throat or oral cancers.

Pregnant women who smoke also have higher risks of miscarriages and low infant birth weights. Some children born to mothers who smoked during the pregnancy also experience behavioral and learning deficiencies.

Another harmful effect of cigarette smoking is second-hand smoke. Second hand smokers either inhale tobacco smoke by inhaling exhaled smoke or by inhaling the smoke coming off cigars, cigarettes and similar products. Inhaling second hand smoke increases your risk of getting lung cancer by as much as 30%. Second hand smoke has also been known to cause respiratory infection and decreased lung function. Children continually exposed to second hand smoke develop severe asthma, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome.

People addicted to smoking find quitting difficult. Most experience withdrawal symptoms like shaking and incessant cravings. However, quitting improves one’s health almost immediately by decreasing your risk for heart attack, stroke and cancer. Studies have shown that a man who stops smoking at 35 years-old improves his life expectancy by five years.