Quit now and save lives

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Cigarette smoke is harmful to you and your family
By DR. RICHARD BELIVEAU

It is now well recognized that cigarette smoke is one of the most harmful substances for the health. Recent data indicates that this toxicity lingers in the form of third-hand smoke, which is especially dangerous for young children.

Although the damaging effects of smoking are now well known, it is nevertheless useful to stress how smoking has disastrous effects in terms of lost lives and health costs.

Smoking is unquestionably the leading cause of death worldwide: we estimate that over 500 million people will die of smoking-related diseases in the coming years. These statistics are all the more alarming since in half of the cases, these deaths affect people in the prime of life and can cut between 20 and 25 years off these people’s life expectancy.

The devastating impacts of smoking are due to the significant increase of the risk of developing several serious diseases, especially heart and lung diseases.

For example, among heavy smokers (35 cigarettes or more per day), the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases is increased by four times, lung cancer, by 40 times, and lung diseases (chronic obstruction, emphysema, etc.), by 115 times!

The cancer risk increase associated with smoking is especially disturbing: besides lung cancer, smoking increases the risk of developing 14 different types of cancer! On the whole, we estimate that cigarette smoking is the direct cause of 65% of all smokers’ deaths.

The catastrophic health effects of smoking are due to the 4,000 chemical substances found in cigarette smoke, of which at least 60 are powerful carcinogens. During the combustion of tobacco, these substances transform into highly reactive molecules that bind themselves to the DNA, which dramatically increases the risk of causing mutations that lead to the development of cancer.

This effect is all the more pronounced since cigarette smoke also causes an inflammation of the respiratory tract, which contributes to speed up the growth of cancer cells. Considering this, it’s not surprising that smoking alone is responsible for 85% of lung cancers and 30% of all cancers in general.

Another excellent reason to quit smoking is the impact cigarette smoke can have on the people around smokers. For example, we have known for a long time that people who live with smokers have about 25% more risk of developing lung cancer than people who live in a smoke-free environment, and up to 1.6% of all lung cancers are the result of a prolonged exposure to second-hand smoke.

Even though these risks are significantly smaller than those incurred by smokers, who are victims of 85% of all lung cancers, we can only encourage the people who smoke to minimize the contact of their loved ones with cigarette smoke.

Several smokers are aware of the inconveniences and dangers associated with cigarette smoke and try to show as much respect as possible to their loved ones, for example, by only smoking in their absence. However, recent data indicate that many particles found in cigarette smoke become embedded in carpets, curtains or other fabrics in the room where one smokes, and that these substances remain toxic long after the cigarette is put out.

This third-hand smoke, which contains heavy metals (lead, cadmium), various chemical compounds (arsenic products, toluene, etc.) and even radioactive substances, is especially dangerous for young children, who are in close contact with various surfaces and ingest two times more dust than adults.

In the light of these observations, there is no doubt that quitting smoking is one of the actions that has the most beneficial effect on the health, not only of smokers, but of their loved ones as well.

Source: http://www.edmontonsun.com/Lifestyle/2009/01/19/8067616-sun.html