How smoking damages the body
- Chemicals from cigarette smoke enter the blood stream when smoke is inhaled. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer. The toxic byproducts of cigarette smoke are carried through the body, damaging organs in many different ways.
- Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide (CO). When cigarette smoke enters the lungs the CO mimics oxygen (O2) and binds to hemoglobin, effectively reducing the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. This deprives organs of vital oxygen.
- Cigarette smoke attacks a vital gene that protects you from cancer. The gene is called P53. If P-53 is damaged, deadly tumors can grow.
- The genetic code controling cell growth is damaged, causing excellerated and abnormal cell growth.
- Smoking may cause an artery in the brain to become blocked by a blood clot or other debris carried in the bloodstream—a stroke. This cuts off the blood supply to the surrounding brain cells and causes them to die.
- Smokers have a below normal blood level of antioxidants, an important means of repairing cells damaged by common environmental factors.
- Immune system function is altered by cigarette smoke, resulting in possibile increased risk of infections.
- Tobacco Smoke attacks and rots the air sacks
in the lung that take in oxygen. The distruction of these sacks causes smokers to become short
of breath. This lung damage leads to emphysema
Diseases caused by smoking
"For the Surgeon
General to conclude that smoking is proven to cause a particular
disease, there must be enough scientific evidence that smoking either
increases the overall number of cases of the disease or makes the
disease occur earlier than it otherwise would." [Source]
The list of diseases caused by smoking includes:
- abdominal aortic aneurysm
- acute myeloid leukemia
- cataract
- cervical cancer
- kidney cancer
- pancreatic cancer
- pneumonia
- periodontitis
- stomach cancer
- bladder cancer
- esophageal cancer
- laryngeal cancer
- lung cancer
- oral cancer
- throat cancer
- chronic lung diseases
- coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases
- reproductive effects
- sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
Source: 2004
Report of the Surgeon General on the health consequences of smoking
Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health
Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.
All SG reports on smoking and health – CLICK
2004 SG report – CLICK
Fact Sheets for the 2004 SG report – CLICK
Press release (May 27, 2004) – CLICK
Source of quotes: Fact sheet #10, How Do We Conclude That Smoking is a Cause of Disease? – CLICK
CDC: Health Consequences of smoking – http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/hlthcon.htm
New York Times Essentials: Smoking and Smokeless Tobacco | Taming that overwhelming urge to smoke;