Not everyone smokes cigarettes, but at some point, most everyone is exposed to the smoking of others. Practically everywhere, cigarette smoking has become an entrenched and popular habit. Cigarettes are one of the best selling consumer products in the world. The tobacco industry commands armies of loyal buyers and enjoys a rapidly expanding market. Delighted companies boast impressive profits, political influence, and prestige. The only problem is that their best customers keep dying off. Smoking is truly a dangerous habit, and has widespread effects.
Smoking seriously affects an individual economically, psychologically, and physically. Smoking can affect an individual economically. The tobacco industry is a powerful money making machine that draws in millions of dollars in profit every year. The faithful customers, are in a sense, addicts that must have the product they desire. Big tobacco companies thrive on this addiction. Cigarettes now cost about four dollars a pack – a price that most smokers are willing to pay. However, the actual cigarettes are not the only expense for smokers. Extra money is often spent on covering up the habit of smoking.
Added expenses such as perfume, cologne, hairspray, air freshener, chewing gum, breath mints, toothpaste, mouthwash, and dry cleaning bills all add to the cost of being a smoker. Medical bills can also cause serious financial problems. Some smokers may even have a difficult time finding employment. Some employers have strict mo smoking policies, with serious financial consequences for noncompliant individuals such as increased health care premiums. Workers who smoke on the job are at risk for causing accidents due to smoke in their eyes or only using one hand to complete tasks.
Other businesses recognize that smokers are likely to have higher medical costs and may limit employment opportunities because of this. Although smoking is an expensive habit, most continue to pay the price. While financial problems seem large, the psychological effects of smoking may affect an individual even more. Until recently, smokers were allowed to light up almost anywhere to enjoy a cigarette. However, increased knowledge of the health risks associated with smoking and second has smoke has changed the opinion of the general public and legislatures alike.
Currently, the smokers are usually separated from the nonsmokers. Restaurants demand to know an individual’s status upon walking through the door – smoking or non smoking. Smoking is also prohibited in most public buildings. If smoking is allowed outside the premises, individuals are often kept away from the front of the building and out of the public’s eye, moved to a door in the rear of the building where few if any other people enter. Smoking is also now prohibited on public transportation such as subways, buses, taxis, and airplanes.
Some states have even instilled no smoking laws in all public settings. In addition, smoking has been prohibited outdoors in some places such as state and national parks. Smokers may sometimes feel ostracized and discriminated against. Non smokers may view smokers as dirty, smelly, and too weak to fight an addiction. Such negative thinking can adversely psychologically affect an individual who smokes. While the economical and psychological effects of smoking are numerous, the most damaging effects of smoking are physical problems.
The U. S. Surgeon General requires that all cigarette packs must display the warning, “Smoking is damaging to your health. ” Cigarettes contain harmful toxins and deadly carcinogens that, if consumed over long periods of time, can lead to serious health problems. Medical problems associated with smoking include heart attack, heart disease. However, advertising makes smoking appear glamorous and healthy. The realities for smokers are quite the opposite. Cigarette smoking makes the breath smell foul and dirty and also can stain the teeth and fingers to a brownish yellow color.
Smoking has proven to lead to impotence in some men. Tobacco use can also cause premature facial wrinkling and skin problems. However, the actual smoker is not the only individual at risk for physical symptoms. Smoking harms others as well. A woman who smokes during pregnancy significantly decreases the amount of oxygen that is supplied to her fetus. She increases the risk of premature labor and miscarriage for her child. Children with parents who smoke are more likely that children with non smoking parents to have diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and chronic respiratory problems.
Indeed, the physical effects of smoking far outweigh the economical and psychological effects. The habit of smoking is ultimately life threatening. Smoking causes countless economical, psychological, and physical problems. Yet, individuals continue to support this deadly habit as their lives, and the lives of those around them go up in smoke. With new legislations is most states, there are stricter laws on smoking in public and the pressure is on to reduce smoking all over the nation in an effort to have a healthier population of citizens of the United States of America.