What makes people smoke? Well most teens start smoking due to peer pressure because they want to look cool. Most teens start from the age of 14. Smokers don’t need to wait long for the tobacco to damage their health, because there are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes. When burned, they create more than 7,000 chemicals. At least 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are poisonous. Tobacco smoke is both toxic and addictive. Nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, ammonia, arsenic, DDT, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde.
Just like heroine and cocaine nicotine is highly addictive, as soon as it is inhaled into the lungs it takes just six minutes to reach the brain. Young people are very sensitive to nicotine because their brains are still developing.
Carbon monoxide makes it hard for the red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. The chemicals in tobacco smoke harm your blood cells. They also can damage the function of your heart and the structure and function of your blood vessels. This damage increases your risk of atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up in the arteries. Over time, plaque hardens and narrows your arteries. This limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your organs and other parts of your body.
Smokers are likely to develop smaller lungs which won’t function normally. They also develop early cardiovascular disease, wheezing which can lead to asthma. They also develop Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs if plaque builds up in the coronary (heart) arteries. Over time, CHD can lead to chest pain, heart attack, heart failure, arrhythmias, or even death.
Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease. When combined with other risk factors—such as unhealthy blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and overweight or obesity—smoking further raises the risk of heart disease.
Smoking also is a major risk factor for peripheral artery disease (P.A.D.). P.A.D. is a condition in which plaque builds up in the arteries that carry blood to the head, organs, and limbs. People who have P.A.D. are at increased risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Smoking cause DNA damage which leads to lung cancer. Teens who smoke are more likely to have smaller lungs as the lungs don’t reach its full size until late teens in girls and after 20 in boys. Smoking increases the risk of not just lung cancer but 13 or more cancers which are cancer of the Kidney, Pancreas, Bladder, Liver, Stomach, Bowel, Cervix, Ovary, Nose, Larynx (Voice box) Mouth, Oesophagus (Gullet) Pharynx (Throat) Chemicals such as Polonium -210, Benzene, Benzo a Pyrene, and Nitrosamines found in cigarette causes cancer by damaging the DNA, including Key Genes that protect us against cancer. Chromium makes poisons like Benzo a Pyrene stick strongly to the DNA, while Aresenic and Nickel interfere with pathways for repairs g damaged DNA. There are cleaner proteins in our body called “Detoxification Enzymes” that clear away harmful chemicals but Cadmium found in cigarettes can overwhelm these cleaners. Formaldehyde and Acrolein kills cilia, the small hair that cleans toxin from our airways. Cigarettes also damages the immune system.
Most chemicals inhaled from cigarette remain in the lungs. The more one inhaled, the more better it feels and the greater the damage. The damages caused by cigarettes start from your very first drag.
Many of the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco and cigarette smoke have other suprising uses too:
Benzene – an industrial solvent, refined from crude oil &
Arsenic – a poison, used in wood preservatives and to make the poison
Cadmium and lead – used in batteries
Formaldehyde – used in mortuaries for (embalming) and paint manufacturing
Polonium-210 – a highly radioactive element
Chromium – used to manufacture dye, paints and alloys
1,3-Butadiene – used in rubber manufacturing
Nickel – used to protect metals from corrosion
Vinyl chloride – used to produce plastic and vinyl products
Beryllium – used in nuclear reactors
Acetic acid – used to make hair dye
Acetone – used to make nail polish remover
Nicotine – used in insecticides
Tar – used as material for paving roads
Carbon monoxide – found in car exhaust fumes
Hexamine and Butane – used to produce lighter fluids
Ammonia – used to make household cleaner
Ethylene oxide – a disinfectant used to sterilise hospital equipment
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – a group of dangerous DNA-damaging chemicals, including benzo(a)pyrene
Ortho-Toluidine – used in the production of weedkillers
4-aminobiphenyl and 2-naphthyl-amine – used in dye manufacturing until it was banned in the EU
And then there are tobacco-specific nitrosamines – a group of cancer-causing chemicals only found in tobacco.
This cocktail of chemicals is why there is no safe way to use tobacco and the best thing a smoker can do for their health is to stop smoking completely.
Quit smoking today not for anyone just do it for you and your health.
TeresaMcKenzy.
Belledéessevcno 