My question reagrds smoking as the title says. You see, I have A LOT of family/friends/people I care about who happen to be smokers. My grandparents have smoked for as long as I can remember, my uncle smokes, my dad use to smoke but he hasn't done that in YEARS now, and several of my friends smoke. My question is does smoking REALLY kill you/cause serious harm? Because my grandparents and uncle smoke and they've never gotten cancer or anything like that and obviously haven't died. So what's the deal with this? Can someone please help me? I'm scared, I mean I don't want to loose any of my friends/family members just because they smoke! And I'll even admit that I, myself have in fact thought about starting to smoke SEVERAL times. Should I start? Also, what effects does second hand smoke have on people? Any help will be greatly apperciated, but I really need as much help/info as possible guys *and gals (: *.
Well, it is true that some people can live 70, 80 years smoking and never die from cancer. However, I'm sure that you notice a scratchy sound in their voices by the time they're 40 or 50, and they sound like that one new york women who cartoon comedies use for jokes. This is the result of smoking for at least a decade, and effects you permanently.
Let me tell you a story I was once told. A friend of mine, who is in his 60s now, has never smoked in his life. But, he had many friends around the country, since he had spent a couple years during the draft during Vietnam. Well, many years later, one of his friends died in his home at night. It turned out that he had smoked so much that the lining of his lungs began to bleed. In an attempt to keep himself from dying, this man essentially slept hanging off the edge of his bed this one night, but ultimately drowned in his own blood.
Cancer isn't the only way smoking can kill you, because I assure you the daily death rate from it would be a lot lower if that were the case. Something like 1200 people die a day from causes related to smoking.
There are dozens of toxins inside of tobacco, including the stimulant nicotine. Now, most people will argue this point, but think about this: Nicotine was and still is used in a number of the most popular general pesticides. Now, why would you want to become ADDICTED to the stuff, much less smoking it in the first place?
And that's another thing to watch out for. People will tell you that it's just their habit, that they can stop any time they want. They are most likely lying to themselves as much as you, because IF they ever try to quit, they will discover an inability to because they're body has become physically dependent on that specific amount of nicotene. If they ever make it through withdrawl, they will have been irritible, tired, have had poor judgement, and a number of other things. Withdrawl from a nicotene addiction is as bad as any drug. Effectively, tobacco is a drug in nature. Raw tabacco will make you high. That's something the first settlers of this continent discovered. They just also discovered a way to dilute it into a (thought to be) safe, but still highly addictive form by drying it. For centuries, one of the largest exports prior to the cotton boom was tabacco related products to the European homeland.
So don't get involved. Tobacco can ultimately be even more destructive than alcohol, though I wouldn't get involved in that, either.
I don't think smoking causes cancer. If a person is predisposition-ed to getting cancer from the chemicals in tobacco, then smoking may trigger that predisposition. It involves genetics. That's why some people can smoke until they're 100 and not get cancer yet others may get cancer in their 40s or 50s.
The biggest problem with smoking is that most people who smoke all their life tend to get emphysema or COPD in their 60s, 70s and 80s. Those are debilitating illnesses that usually cause the victim to have to be on oxygen most of the time and greatly reduces their mobility.
You don't really want to start smoking. It is one of the hardest addictions to overcome.
If you're prone, tobacco can damage your mouth, throat, lungs and heart. It isn't worth the risk.
Simply a Rose to brighten your day, And maybe lessen the cares in your way; And also, too, to help you to know, That in knowing you, many others grow!
There have been individuals that have experienced (skin and lung, most commonly)cancer when having no such genetic markers as you mentioned before. While a good portion of cancer is probably the cause of poor genes(though, there's less credible proof of that than the harmful effects of secondhand smoke), all cancer is is the result of a mutated cell(s) that begin multiplying at a dangerously high rate. This can happen simply from a cell's attempt at multiplying gone wrong. That's actually what causes down syndrome, I beleive, where one of the reproductive cells has one too many chromosomes because of a bad split. But mutations as a result of these splits can also be caused by genetics, but also exposure to radiation, even merely the rays we get from the sun. That's why if you get a sunburn you've essentially increased your possibilities for skin cancer, because it's irradiation that causes that burning.
Well, second-hand smoke has caused cancer. It has been proven. And it also contributes to the spread of disease. It's sorta like sharing the same glass, though not quite so volatile.
Honestly, sit down and talk with your parents, and then the rest of the people you're concerned with. And if you're parents are pretty adamant, don't be afraid to instigate some tears. A pond forming at your feet tends to get the attention of those emotionally attached to you.
Well, good luck. I hoe it gets dealt with. This is a centuries old problem, unfortunately.
Thank you for that... but now I really feel scared. I don't want any of this stuff happening to the people I care about! And if I'm around smokers a lot, what can happen to me?
If you start it would be very hard to quit.
Second hand smoke on the other hand has no credible evidence that suggest that it can cause lung cancer.
Wouldn't I have known if they did? I mean wouldn't that have already been discovered?
If you don't smoke, don't start. How do you know they don't already have cancer?
