These problems include cough and phlegm production, an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness, an unfavorable lipid profile and potential retardation in the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function. An estimated 440,000 Americans die each year from diseases caused by smoking. These illnesses include Lung Cancer, bronchitis, heart diseases, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and emphysema. As well as, of course, second hand smoking that presents the threat of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Many experts will also tell you second hand smoking is more dangerous than first hand, because of the unfiltered smoke containing 50 more cancerous substances than filtered cigarette smoke.
In this section of the report, the authors detail the rate at which destructive fire kills, injures, and causes property loss to Americans. The report states that fire claims the lives of 12,000 people every year in the U.S., making it the second highest cause of accidental death. That isn’t the only human toll, because there are also 300,000 people who are injured by fire on an annual basis. The authors expound on the injuries by detailing the painful experiences of patients who must endure numerous plastic and reconstructive surgeries. The price of destructive fire is estimated at over $11 billion a year in the U.S. Loss of businesses leads to loss of jobs, which is a price that is beyond calculation.
People who smoke are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than nonsmokers, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked. In the United States, approximately thirty eight thousand deaths each year are caused by exposure to second hand smoke. Among current smokers, chronic lung disease accounts for about seventy three percent of smoking-related conditions. Over time, smoking will cause serious health conditions such as: cancer of mouth and gums, tooth loss, and obviously, lung cancer and death. Smoking can result in the loss of medical readiness, which can and will affect your chances to possibly stay in the service.
A survey done in 1991 showed that over 20 million people used marijuana within that year. In the United States there are more than 300,000 drug offenders in prison at every moment costing our government $100,000 per cell, meaning it costs $30 billion to make a place for these people to serve their crime. In addition it costs $25,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison, adding $15 billion more to our already high costs (Towards a Policy on Drugs). Elliott Currie describes that the United States should adopt the Dutch policy of legalization of marijuana and other hashish drugs excluding cocaine and heroin. These two drugs are much more harmful to you and can be highly addictive.
The American Cancer Society states that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. Cigarette smoking is directly responsible for 87% of lung cancer cases in the United States annually. Secondhand smoke, which is the inhalation of smoke from another’s smoking, is a cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers (“Lung Cancer and Smoking Cigarettes”). According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 3,000 adults that do not smoke will die each year from lung cancer due to breathing in secondhand smoke. Smoking cigarettes is by far the main contributor to lung cancer.
Thompson Jr. states, “Secondhand smoke is defined as the combination of the smoke emitted by the lit tobacco at the end of a cigarette or cigar…called side-stream smoke.” Research has found that secondhand smoke is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths every year in non-smokers. Side-stream smoke is also included 3,400 lung cancer deaths and almost 46,000 heart disease deaths and maybe even a role in the development of breast cancer. However, children are the most vulnerable victims to secondhand smoke, said Thompson Jr. “About 35 percent of kids in the United States-some 21 million children- live in homes where they are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.” I am included in this statistic as my mom is a smoker who is trying her hardest to stop. I suffer from many upper-respiratory problems from a reaction to smoke inhaled from
Call to Action This catastrophe needs to be addressed now because as you read this, people are dying from multiple types of cancer, blindness, bladder cancer, cancer of the esophagus, cancer of the kidneys, cancer of the pancreas, and cervical cancer. 5.4 million deaths are caused a year because of nicotine; because of tobacco. Every pack of cigarettes has a warning, that it can be harmful to your health. If you can smoke, you are very capable to read. Then why are you still smoking?
As these children grow older, they are actually, in many cases, at high risk of being seriously injured or even killed by this harmful thing, obesity. Only six years ago a survey was taken up that led to knowledge of estimated deaths caused by obesity-related illness. The astounding statistic shows that 112,000 to 325,000 American adults die from it every year. This means that people with the highest BMI’s are twice more likely to die prematurely than the average American. Here are a few examples of the illnesses caused by obesity: type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular (heart) disease, and asthma.
Attempts suicide; every 16.7 minutes, someone completes suicide; and every day over 85 people die by suicide. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. And the third leading cause of death among Americans youth. Over the last 100 years, suicide in the U.S. Has out-numbered homicide by at least 3 to 2. Almost 4 times as many Americans died by suicide during the Vietnam War era as died in the course of military action. The federal government has shown concern for high suicide rates in this country since at least the beginning of the 20th century.
One, a study carried out by University of Hong Kong and the Department of Health that was reported in the South China Morning Post shows that there is a high correlation between level of physical activity in people and in the risk of dying from different diseases such as cancer. According to this study, it clearly shows that deaths resulting from lack of physical exercise are way higher than deaths from smoking. Actually, according to this study about 20% of all deaths among people who are aged thirty five and above are associated with lack of exercise which is evidently higher those deaths of the same group of people from smoking. Particularly looking at cancer, the risk of dying for men is about 45% and 28% for women due to lack of physical exercise from this chronic disease. From this study too, it shows that most of the people being diagnosed with cancer are people who spend a lot of hours watching television, and they are into jobs that require them to sit in the office for long hours a day such as 10 hours with no engagement to physical exercise at all.