Why All the Fuss About Smoking?

There are many diseases that can kill us, and a lot of them can't be prevented. Yet smoking is the single most preventable cause of illness and premature death in the United States! Just think about that!  More than 430,000 deaths occur each year that are directly attributable to smoking.  If these people had not smoked, they would still be alive. 

What does this mean to us as a society?  Many smokers say that if they want to smoke, they should be free as an individual to make that choice and potentially die that way if they want to.  This is the addiction talking, pure and simple.  Many heroin addicts would say the same thing.  They aren’t hurting anyone except themselves.  However this isn't really true.

Smokers are at increased risk of heart disease, cancer, and other smoking-related illnesses that contribute to more than 430,000 deaths a year.  It is estimated that 22% of all cancer deaths in women and 45% of all cancer deaths in men is due to smoking.

Nationwide, medical care costs due to smoking have been estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be more than $50 billion annually.  The CDC also estimates the value of lost earnings and productivity to be at least another $47 billion a year.  These costs are transferred to all of us.  It may be in the form of higher health insurance premiums, diverted health care resources, and increased taxation to cover increased medical spending and long term health care for the chronically ill.

Second hand smoke from tobacco products also has consequences.  The risk for many diseases to others who are not directly using the products (called passive smokers) is increased. It even has an official name, Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and is a major source of indoor air contaminants and a known carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer).

Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year among non-smokers and contributes to as many as 40,000 deaths related to heart disease! Exposure to tobacco smoke in the home increases the severity of asthma for children and is a risk factor for new cases of childhood asthma. ETS exposure has been linked also with sudden infant death syndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that second hand smoke is directly responsible for 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in babies and toddlers, causing 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations per year. 

This is why smoking in public places, buildings, airplanes, etc., has been banned.  By smoking around your loved ones you are making them a passive smoker, and they could very well be the one to pay for your bad habit if they become ill or get injured.

Think that the cigarette butt that you toss out of your car window is biodegradable?  In fact it can take at least 10 years for a single used cigarette filter to decompose, and while it is doing so it is unleashing all of those 4,000 chemicals into the environment.  If it was just one, it would be no big deal.  However, cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, with estimates at 700 billion being dumped each year into the environment. Think of all the times you've seen where people have emptied their ashtrays in a parking lot. Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, and whales who have mistaken them for food.  The nicotine and other chemicals, as well the acetate fibers in the filter, can kill the animal. 

Additionally, cigarettes are the number one cause of residential fire fatalities and injury, leading to more than 1,000 deaths each year.  Smoking is still a major cause of forest and brush fires, further depleting resources and destroying homes and even towns, putting residents and animals in harm’s way.  And the saddest part of all, is that this all could be prevented if people would just stop smoking!