subject: The Tobacco Cigarette - General Info And Ramblings [print this page] It has been identified as the single most important source of preventable death in America and possibly even around the entire world. It is notorious for causing disease - heart disease, stroke, cancer of the lungs and other vital organs and so forth - that can eventually lead to death. It costs the U.S. economy upwards of $150 billion in health care costs in a single year.
"It" is the infamous tobacco cigarette, and it helps kill thousands upon thousands of people every year. Yet, as dangerous, harmful, bad - and every other negative word you can think of - as this habit is, millions of Americans engage in the smoking habit on a daily basis. While some people do not smoke more than just a couple or a few cigarettes in a day's time, others smoke as much as two to three packs everyday. Assuming that the smoker is awake for 16 hours in a day, he uses anywhere from 2.5 to 3.75 cigarettes every hour.
Now, it is a widely known fact that cigarettes are in no way, shape, or form good for your health at all. The process of putting a flame to the tobacco mixture that contains dried tobacco leaves and other additives results in the emission of thousands of chemicals and toxins. Some of these chemicals are actually known to cause cancer. Of course, this smoke is not only bad to the smoker but to anyone who is around the smoker as well, including companion pets.
While tobacco products were used freely inside public buildings and were socially accepted at one point, plenty of people now frown upon cigarette usage. Some people are more understanding and will be tolerant of cigarette smokers as long as the smokers are conscientious of their actions and still there are others who go a little "too far". Their dislike of cigarettes and smokers are comparable to a phobia of cigarettes, and while they should just be respectful of a smoker's decision to engage in the activity, they choose to blatantly disrespect that smoker.
Cigarette smoking is highly addictive because of the nicotine, a naturally occurring substance found in the tobacco plant. Because of the nicotine and because of the "act" of smoking, millions of smokers find themselves hopelessly addicted to these cigarettes and will try numerous times to quit. A tiny percentage will be successful on the first try while others will try and fail several times and give up on the idea of quitting.
