Tobacco Hurts

A Tough Adversary

About 440,000 U.S. military personnel were killed in action in the wars of the 20th century. That’s a huge number of lives lost.

But consider this: The same number of people die each year from smoking-related illnesses, most from diseases of the heart and from various types of cancer.

More than 127 million current or former smokers in the United States are living with a tobacco-related disease. That’s more than all of the people in Texas and Virginia combined.

You’d be shocked if everybody in Texas and Virginia decided to make themselves sick, or kill themselves. Nobody decides to make themselves or anyone else sick by smoking or chewing tobacco, either. But often, that’s exactly what happens.

Toxic Invaders

Would you ingest wood varnish? Insect poison? Arsenic? Nail polish remover? Rat poison? No way, right? Yet, these are some of the 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Here are some other dangers tobacco poses for your health right now:

• Men who smoke are more likely to suffer from impotence. In fact, men who smoke are about twice as likely to suffer from impotence as are men who don’t smoke. Nobody needs that!
• Watch out for shrapnel—smoking can interfere with wound healing and surgery. The effects of smoking and the chemicals in cigarettes slow down your body’s ability to heal.
• Smoking and chewing also cause serious dental problems, like gum disease, tooth decay, sores in the mouth, and halitosis (bad breath). Nice!
• Smoking can keep you from fighting infection. Your body is under enough stress—don’t add to it by smoking!

Prevention Starts Now

You’re young and probably feel healthy, so you might have a hard time imagining yourself with lung cancer, emphysema, throat cancer, or heart disease. These diseases tend to strike older people who have been using tobacco longer than you.

But nicotine is addictive. So if you’re smoking or chewing now, chances are you’ll be smoking or chewing in 10 or 20 or 30 years, unless you do something now to take control.

The longer you let it go, the more likely it is that you will develop lung cancer or other serious health problems from tobacco. Plus, tobacco lowers your resistance to the effects of diseases like diabetes and osteoporosis (weakening of the bones, which is a special problem for women). It also can worsen eye problems such as cataracts.

Smoking also harms the health of those around you. Your younger siblings or kids may develop health problems, since they’ll be more likely to start using tobacco based on your example. They also can suffer health effects from the smoke from your cigarettes (secondhand smoke). If you smoke around your child or your brother or sister, they could develop asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, or ear infections. Secondhand smoke also increases the risk that infants will die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

So, nothing about smoking or chewing tobacco is good for you or anyone else. But what happens when you stop smoking or chewing? Can your body ever heal from the damage that tobacco use causes?