Smoking Is Bad

Smoking should be banned. Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Today we are more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking should be banned or restricted in almost all public places because it has been shown to be dangerous to health, it can reduced athletic performance and it can lead to bad skin, bad breath and bad-smelling clothes and hair. The arguments against smoking are well known. Smoking has been shown to be dangerous to health. Heart disease, bronchitis and lung cancer have all been linked. If you smoke, you have a higher risk of dying from heart attack or stroke. In itself, this is a good reason to leave your cigarettes in the packet. As we know, smoking also act as the pivotal cause of chronic bronchitis. Smokers inhale tobacco smoke into their lungs, which irritates the air passages. This finally produces mucus, subsequently developing into chronic bronchitis. Due to the fact, more smoke you breathe, the more it damages your lungs but it can be more hazardous to a passive smoker who inhales the smoke being in close vicinity of the active smoker. Besides that, smoking can reduced athletic performance. People who smoke usually can't compete with nonsmoking peers because the physical effects of smoking like rapid heartbeat, decreased circulation, and shortness of breath impair sports performance. One of the main impacts of smoking on athletic performance is a decrease in lung function. For athletes, this means a decrease in stamina and performance, as muscles that get inadequate oxygen become fatigued more quickly. Smokers also tend to suffer from shortness of breath more often than nonsmokers, as their muscles and heart demand more oxygen than their lungs are able to supply. Last but not least is smoking can lead to bad skin, bad breath and bad-smelling clothes and hair. Because smoking restricts blood vessels, it can prevent oxygen and nutrients from getting to the skin which is why smokers often appear pale and unhealthy. Cigarettes leave smokers with a condition called halitosis, or persistent bad breath. The smell of stale smoke tends to linger, not just on people's clothing, but on their hair, furniture, and cars. And it is often hard to get the smell of smoke out. The only thing that really helps a person avoid the problems associated with smoking is staying smoke free. This is not always easy, especially if everyone around you is smoking and offering you cigarettes. To avoid these evils of smoking and ensure a healthy platform for the youth it is not only our duty but need of the day to condemn such practices if not completely then atleast socially. In general, I think the world would be a better place without cigarettes and that is why smoking should be banned. However, the decision as to whether to smoke or not should be for each individual to make.

The tobacco plant is native to the Americas. Sailors accompanying Christopher Columbus on his voyage to the New World found Arawak and Taino Indians smoking the herb, and brought back samples with them to Europe, where the habit was eventually popularized.
Tobacco cancers were first recognized in the lips, mouth, and tongue because these are easily visible, but also because people rarely inhaled tobacco smoke prior to the invention of cigarettes.
"Certain scientists and medical authorities have claimed for many years that the use of tobacco contributes to cancer development in susceptible people. Just enough evidence has been presented to justify the possibility of such a presumption."
For decades, scientists have noted a strong correlation between smoking, lung cancer, and high death rates. But only recently has government at both the national and local levels taken aim at the practice of smoking. Why, one might wonder, has it taken so long?
Smoking has become very common and fashionable, especially among young boys. This habit usually begins at school when boys try to experiment with every new thing that they can lay their hands on.
Despite the warnings given by doctors about the ill-effects of smoking, people continue to smoke. Smokers are addicted to it, and even if they want to, they cannot refrain from picking up a cigar or cigarette and puffing away. Some youngsters smoke for the sake of society and some feel that would make them appear liberated and broadminded.
In the beginning, a teenager may take a few puffs from his friend's cigarette; then comes a time when it becomes an indispensable part of his life. Several puffs lead to the formation of a habit. Soon smoking begins to affect the health of the smoker. He becomes a chain-smoker. This smoke is toxic and the nicotine in the cigarette is known to cause cancer. It is ironic that despite the fact that every smoker is aware of the ill effects of smoking, he does not give it up.
Tobacco companies are doing very well all over the world. Every packet of cigars or cigarettes has a warning inscribed in it: cigarette smoking is injurious to health." Yet the smoker never reads this warning and even if he reads it he never pays heed to it.
The government raises the price of tobacco every year. This is usually done to discourage people from smoking. Yet smokers continue to be slaves of this habit and often spend a substantial part of their earnings on cigarettes. Cigarette advertisements lure people into smoking and most active smokers cause a great deal of harm to passive smokers as well. Smokers force the members of their family to bear the ill effects of the smoke that they exhale. Smoking can be stopped by a strong will power and every person has the capacity to give it up once he sets his mind at doing so.
Smoking can be better explained as a practice where smoke is inhaled by burning tobacco. This is not something new for the human civilization as from the very beginning of life on this earth tobacco has been used in some form or the other. Smoking is the most common method of consuming tobacco and same is the case with tobacco as it is the most common substance smoked.
As per a worldwide survey in the year 2000 nearly 1.22 billion people were found to be smokers. In all, more of men were found to be smokers then women. It was found that in America smoking had its origin from the incense-burning ceremonies and later on it was adopted for pleasure in social gatherings. The people at that time believed that tobacco was a gift from God or creator and that the smoke exhaled is capable of communicating one’s prayer to the almighty.
Besides smoking, tobacco is also used for preparing medicines. Tobacco is used for making pain killers. Certain tribes living in India believed that tobacco can be used as an effective medicine for fighting cold, tooth and ear aches.
Smoking is a kind of guilty pleasure. Religious authorities have always degraded the smoking practices. This is even evident as any kind of smoking is prohibited in religious places. But those who smoke are little affected by such restrictions. Smoking once started as a pleasure soon turns into an addiction. Quitting smoking is really a hard task that covets self motivation and zeal.
Germany was the first country where people formed associations and carried out demonstrations against the harmful effects of smoking. In the year 1929, Fritz Lickint of Dresden, Germany, published a report containing formal evidence of a lung cancer-tobacco link. There was a general assumption in the society that women who smoke are misfit as a home maker.
As per another survey in the United States, smoking declined from 42% to 20.8%. A majority of the people who quit smoking were professional and affluent men. Although, the number of smokers decreased but the average number of cigarettes consumed per person per day increased from 22 to 30 in the year 1978. As per a study, in the year 2002, tobacco consumption is rising at the rate of 3.4% which is very alarming.
In Africa, smoking is considered as a sign of modernization and the opinion of the west regarding ill effects of smoking receives much less attention. Today, Russia leads as the top consumer of tobacco followed by China, Greece and Ukraine.
As per the report of World Health Organization tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in the year 2004 and about 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Passive smoking or second hand smoking is equally harmful and about six hundred thousand deaths were caused by passive smoking.
Recently, the WHO held a convention on Tobacco control and a public policy was also framed. Many government authorities all over the world have implemented the law banning smoking in public places. This is a significant and considerable step towards the eradication of smoking as an evil habit from the society.