subject: Why People Shouldn't Smoke: Essay [print this page] Why People Shouldn't Smoke: Essay Why People Shouldn't Smoke: Essay
Sample Essay
Words 2,020
There have been anti-smoking campaigns since the 1960s, and today the ads and commercials on TV are aimed more towards the youth culturethose who've not started smoking yet and might be around itwhile commercials to stop the addiction to nicotine through patches and gums are geared towards the adults who've already become addicted. Not smoking is a very big issue as we can see from the proliferation of ads and commercials as well as the governmental involvement with tax-hikes on cigarettes to discourage smokers and the declaration of public places such as restaurants and shopping malls as smoke-free. There has been a stigma attached to those people who do smoke as can be witnessed by their division from the rest of the public into smoker areas. Everyone from the government to hospitals to movie stars, friends, and family claim smoking is a filthy habit one shouldn't start in on, and everyone gives very good reasons why someone shouldn't smoke, and I agree. The biggest reasons not to smoke concerns your health, the health of the people around you, the financial burden of buying cigarettes, cigars, and pipes and tobacco, and the health and beauty of the environment. One of the biggest reasons not to smoke that immediately comes to mind is health-related: "Cigarette smoking kills an estimated 264,000 men and 178,000 women in the United States each year" ("Tobacco"). Smoking has also been known to cause lung cancer, heart disease, and the chronic lung diseases of emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airways obstruction; all of these "are responsible for the largest number of smoking-related deaths" ("Tobacco"). Something that oftentimes isn't considered when discussing smoking are smoking pipes or cigarsusually people only think about cigaretteswhich "increase the risk of dying from cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, and oral cavity" ("Tobacco"). Do you really want to increase your risk of a deadly disease? By smoking you're only increasing your chances and shortening your life.
