Problem/Solution Essay

This Has To Stop! Each year in America, at least 400,000 Americans lose their lives to cigarettes. This is at least one out of every five Americans. This epidemic is growing on a daily basis. Smoking can damage your body tremendously. Smoking can damage your lungs, brain, and heart. Smoking is a problem not only for human beings, but for America as a whole. Smoking pollutes the air. Cigarettes are made from 4,000 different chemical compounds and 400 toxic substances. Smoking is also bad for America because of “second-hand smoke”. We roam around in a universe polluted by smoke. This is why smoking cigarettes is a problem. Smokers need to realize that they are not only damaging themselves, but the others around them as well. The most damaging products that are in cigarettes are tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide. Did you know that on an average, each cigarette shortens a smoker’s life by around 11 minutes? The number of people under the age of 70 who die from smoking-related diseases exceeds the total figure for deaths caused by breast cancer, AIDS, traffic accidents, and drug addiction. Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death due to smoking. Smokers are more likely to develop cancer than non-smokers. Ninety percent of lung cancer causes are due to smoking. The more cigarettes you smoke a day, and the longer you’ve smoke, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Other types of common cancers that may develop because of smoking are cancer of the bladder, esophagus, kidneys, pancreas, and cervix. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as: emphysema and chronic bronchitis. There are so many risks that smokers are taking each time that they smoke a cigarette. Stop and think, is it really worth it? Quitting can help! Many people feel that it is impossible to quit, but that is not true. People say that smoking helps with stress, but it is a