Comprehensive Smoking Education Act - Health

Health

Smoking has profound effects on the human body in many ways and contributes to the United States leading cause of death, heart disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are more than 440,000 early deaths each year in America due to smoking. The primary organ that is closely related to smoking are the lungs. There are two types of lung cancer, the first type is called Small Cell Lung Cancer and is accountable for 20% of all lung cancers. The cancer cells in these patients are typically smaller than regular cancer cells, but they multiply rapidly to generate massive tumors. The second type is called Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and is responsible for 80% of call cancer cases. Cancers such as the Squamous cell carcinoma in men and Adenocarcinoma in women are the two most common form of NSCLC.

The estimated average annual number of smoking-attributable deaths in the United States during 2000 through 2004 by specific causes, as follows:Lung cancer: 128,900 deaths,Other cancers: 35,300 deaths,Ischemic Heart Disease: 126,000 deaths Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: 92,900 deaths,Stroke: 15,900 deaths andOther diagnoses: 44,000 deaths

Second-hand smoke is also another major problem from cigarettes and it has the same effects on nonsmokers as it does to smokers. There are two types of second-hand smoke with Type 1 being Sidestream smoke and Type 2 being Mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke is the smoke that comes from the lighted cigarette while Mainstream smoke is the smoke that is exhaled by smokers. Sidestream is the more deadly of the two because it has more carcinogens and contains smaller particles that can easily maneuver into human cells.

Smoking also causes major damages to the heart causing coronary heart disease which is the number 1 killer in the United States. Cigarette smoke causes shrinkage in the arteries which heightens their chance of developing peripheral vascular disease. According to the Control Disease Center also known as the CDC, smoking can increase a person's risk of developing heart disease and getting a stroke as much as 2 to 4 times more than an average non-smoker.

The cigarette smoking was estimated to be responsible for $193 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States ($96 billion in direct medical costs and approximately $97 billion in lost productivity) in 2004-2004.The total economic costs (direct medical costs and lost productivity) associated with cigarette smoking are estimated at $10.47 per pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.Cigarette smoking results in 5.1 million years of potential life lost in the United States annually.