Health Hazards of Tobacco

‘I love to kill and it’s my style

To kill I will go an extra-mile,’

the wonderful lines I read from Thrill Killer of Ronald. W. Hull is what I’m recollecting at a moment like this. Because at present I am thinking to tell you something about the ferocious tobacco. We hear the word at least twice a day. But what exactly is tobacco. It is an agricultural product, of course, processed from the leaves of a plant in the genus Nicotina. Records state that half of the children from grade 4 to 6 have attempted smoking and about 80000- 100000 children are becoming addicted to smoking each year. But I would like to ask what is attracting people to smoking like a black hole? It is the nicotine, a carcinogen, present in tobacco that is responsible for the addictive nature.

The carcinogen increases the risk of pancreas cancer, kidney and bladder cancers, stomach cancer, lung cancer, and pharynx and mouth cancers. It has several carcinogenic products that bind to DNA and create genetic mutations. Even though tobacco is consumed in different ways like chewing, snuffing etc smoking is more popular. But the unfortunate havoc of smoking is that it kills not only the one using it but also those sitting around him. Because the smoke produced is fair enough to create a lung cancer or suffocation.

Other than cancers tobacco has many more health risks. Smoking is responsible for the majority of deaths due to chronic diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking has cardio vascular effects too. It increases the risk of heart attack and other heart related diseases 2-4 times greater than a normal person. It causes abdominal aortic aneurysm. Smoking is harmful to bones and joints. It slows down the process that adds calcium to bones. It develops infertility in men and women. In women, as a result there is great risk of loss of bone density and osteoporosis.

Post menopausal women who smoke have greater risk for hip fracture and men who involve in lifting heavy objects are most likely to have a lower back pain and arthritis than the non-smokers. And also have the risk of degenerative disorders and spinal injuries. Smoking increases the risk of diabetics or glucose intolerance that precedes diabetics. It increases the production of acid in the stomach. It reduces blood flow and production of compounds that protects the stomach lining. Such people develop inflammatory Bowell Disease.

Smoking interferes with thyroid hormone production. It triples the risk of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. It also increases the risk of goiter. Wrinkles, gum diseases, tooth loss, cataracts etc are other consequences. Even though man has advanced in his life he never realizes his drawbacks and upgrades them. Maybe the health hazards caused by tobacco are curable. But in future we could only see toothless gums and cancerous mouths. And we all like ‘Prevention is better than cure’, don’t we?

So dear friends arise, awake and think. Let’s join together and strive to create a new generation free of illness and ignorance.

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