Introduction

What is Tobacco?

Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After it is picked, it is dried, ground up, and used in different ways. It can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. It can be chewed (called smokeless tobacco or chewing tobacco) or sniffed through the nose (called snuff).

Nicotine is one of the more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes and its smoke. It is the chemical that makes tobacco addictive or habit forming. Once we smoke, chew, or sniff tobacco, nicotine goes into our bloodstream, and our body wants more. The nicotine in tobacco makes it a drug. This means that when we use tobacco, it changes our body in some way. Because nicotine is a stimulant, it speeds up the nervous system, so we feel like we have more energy. It also makes the heart beat faster and raises blood pressure.

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Research Objective

To understand various reasons why youngsters take up smoking and create awareness about the same and discover its Health Risks on human body.

To find out what steps are taken by our Government to bring down the increasing number of smoking habits.

To find out whether visualization of celebrities smoking in movies is a reason for increasing teen smokers.

To understand why smoking is still so common, despite all that is known about its effects, I have selected this topic.

Research Limitation

Surveyed a r ea was l im i t ed t o t he peop l e i n nea rby a r ea t he r e fo re t he s amp le s i z e was sma l l .

T ime cons t r a in .

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This project is a mixture of theoretical knowledge. It also contains idea and information imparted by the guide. This project report contains all the vital information about smoking and its stages, advantages and disadvantages.

The major steps involved in research process are:-

1. Formulating the research problem

Unit of analysis Youngsters

Characteristics of interest Smoking habit among youngsters

Time Maximum 2 months

Environmental conditions Trend amongst youngsters (AGE group 16-26)

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2. Preparing the research design

Exploratory research

Conclusive research

o Descriptive

o Casual

The project is based on Descriptive research which is known as statistical research that describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied.

3. Sources of data

Primary data

Data collected for current research is called primary data

Ways for collecting - Survey, observation, personal interview, questionnaire

Questionnaire form is used to collect primary data for current project.

Secondary data

Pre existing data not collected for current research but may help the researcher at present. Helps to save time and cost.

Books articles and internet

4. Determining sample design

Non probability sampling

As it is not possible to ask everyone, I have randomly selected 100 youngsters and conduct my research which has helped me to find out the objectives of my research.

5. Collecting the data

The data is collected by the way of questionnaire.

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6. Processing and analyzing the data

The data collected is presented in analyzing form through tabular form and pie diagrams.

7. Preparing the Research report

The objectivity, coherence, charts and diagrams are used freely to express clarity in the presentation of ideas and research

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SMOKING?

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Breathing the fumes of burning plant material, especially tobacco, from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, despite social and medical arguments against tobacco use, smoking is widely practiced around the world. Nicotine is an alkaloid in tobacco that is addictive and can have both stimulating and tranquilizing psychoactive effects. The tar (residue) and gases produced by burning tobacco have many negative health effects. They include lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and laryngeal cancer; heart disease and stroke; and emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases other health-related risk factors (see asbestosis). A nonsmoker who breathes secondhand smoke (such as the smoke from a lit cigarette) is at an increased risk of the same diseases that affect smokers. Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Doctor-run programs, along with nicotine patches and gums that provide diminishing doses of nicotine, are among the aids available to help those who wish to quit smoking. Hypnosis, acupuncture, herbal remedies, and other approaches are also widely advertised as ways to quit smoking. Smoking has been greatly reduced in the health-conscious West even as it rises in many less-developed countries.

Over the years increasing statistical evidence related smoking to cardiovascular and lung disease, especially bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer. It is undoubtedly true that the pleasures of smoking are derived from the actions of nicotine on the central nervous system. Nicotine is rapidly absorbed from the mucosal membrane of the mouth and from the lungs, and readily penetrates the nervous system. It also has peripheral actions, tending to increase blood pressure and heart rate. The Surgeon-General's Report in the US in 1964 was the real start of the campaign to prevent or abolish smoking. Vested interests in the tobacco companies promoted ideas to reduce the harmful effects by the introduction of filters and creation of low tar cigarettes. It is the carcinogenic compounds in the tar which are the serious hazard to health, and some, but not all, of these compounds are removed by the filters. People changing to cigarettes with low nicotine content tend to smoke more and draw more deeply. Artificial smoking materials have been developed, consisting of pure cellulose-based material impregnated with nicotine. However, combustion of all plant material, and of pure cellulose, seems to produce some carcinogenic agents. The ultimate in the safe cigarette consists of a hollow tube which is not ignited but releases nicotine as the ‘smoker’ draws air through. Nicotine chewing gum and nicotine patches, which release the alkaloid when applied to the skin, have also been produced as substitutes, largely for those who are breaking the habit.

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The taking of nicotine is habit forming; indeed it can be described as addictive. The balance of psychological to physical dependence is generally more towards the former, as physical withdrawal symptoms are less severe than with drugs such as heroin. However, individual tobacco addicts vary enormously in their level of dependence. Some of the pleasures of smoking are due to ritual — particularly so in pipe smokers, who carry a variety of equipment for preparing for a satisfying smoke. Many smokers never do so in the dark, for the curl of the smoke from the pipe or cigarette end is part of the ritualistic satisfaction. Many psychological tests have shown that mental activity and performance is enhanced by smoking, particularly when fatigued — but the young often take up smoking to imitate their peers or idols. Serious programs to stop people smoking or to prevent the young from starting, are now being offered, particularly in the Western world, and the number of public places in which smoking is acceptable has greatly reduced.

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HISTORY OF SMOKING

Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the vapors either tasted or inhaled. The practice began as early as 5000–3000 BC. Many civilizations burnt incense during religious rituals, which was later adopted for pleasure or as a social tool. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes. The substance was met with frequent criticism, but became popular nonetheless.

German scientists formally identified the link between smoking and lung cancer in the late 1920s leading the first anti-smoking campaign in modern history. The movement failed to reach across enemy lines during the Second World War, and quickly became unpopular thereafter. In 1950, health authorities again began to suggest a relationship between smoking and cancer. Scientific evidence mounted in the 1980s, which prompted political action against the practice. Rates of consumption from 1965 onward in the developed world have either peaked or declined. However, they continue to climb in the developing world.

Smoking is the most common method of consuming tobacco, and tobacco is the most common substance smoked. The agricultural product is often mixed with other additives and then pyrolyzed. The resulting vapors are then inhaled and the active substances absorbed through the alveoli in the lungs. The active substances trigger chemical reactions in nerve endings which heighten heart rate, memory, alertness, and reaction time. Dopamine and later endorphins are released, which are often associated with pleasure. As of 2000, smoking is practiced by some 1.22 billion people. Men are more likely to smoke than women, though the gender gap declines with younger age.

Many smokers begin during adolescence or early adulthood. Usually during the early stages, smoking provides pleasurable sensations, serving as a source of positive reinforcement. After an individual has smoked for many years, the avoidance of withdrawal symptoms and negative reinforcement become the key motivations to continue.

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STAGES OF SMOKING

Stage 1-Experimentation

This is how every smoker starts. Either through curiosity or peer pressure, and typically at a young age new smokers start through experimentation. They may want to fit in with a group of new friends, look cool, be rebellious or just see what the big deal is about smoking. Many new smokers never make is past this phase. Either smoking makes them feel ill or they come to their senses and realize that it is not for them. A lot of people do make it through this stage and smoking becomes a bigger part of their life.

Stage 2-Commitment

Once a person passes into this stage of smoking they are past a casual urge to smoke and they have made a commitment to their habit. They now actually buy packs of cigarettes. They do not just smoke here and there or just at parties or get-togethers, they smoke all the time. Some people may to be able to quit at this point. But it gets harder the closer they get to the next stage.

Stage 3-Addiction

Once a smoker hits this stage smoking is no longer a choice. They are now having a smoke as soon as they wake up, throughout the course of the day, and before they go to bed at night. Smoking has weaved its way into the fabric of their lives.

Stage 4-Regret

Most smokers who have become addicted eventually regret the fact that they have become powerless over cigarettes. They try to quit smoking, only to find that it is difficult. They desperately want to kick the habit but end up lighting up again. They start the sad merry-go-round of trying to quit smoking. Some will succeed in stopping smoking some will go years trying to quit smoking never to succeed.

Some people can go through these stages very quickly. Or they may go straight from experimentation to addiction. Either way once they have made it to Stage 4, or regret, they need to find an effective way to quit smoking to quickly put an end to the physical and mental anguish that goes along with trying to quit smoking.

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Reasons for smoking

1. Smoking Is a Lifestyle Coping Tool

For many people, smoking is a reliable lifestyle coping tool. Although every person's specific reasons to smoke are unique, they all share a common theme. Smoking is used as a way to suppress uncomfortable feelings, and smoking is used to alleviate stress, calm nerves, and relax. No wonder that when you are deprived of smoking, your mind and body are unsettled for a little while.

Below is a list of some positive intentions often associated with smoking? Knowing why you smoke is one of the first steps towards quitting. Check any and all that apply to you.

1. ___ Coping with anger, stress, anxiety, tiredness, or sadness2. ___ Smoking is pleasant and relaxing3. ___ Smoking is stimulating4. ___ Acceptance - being part of a group5. ___ As a way to socialize6. ___ Provides support when things go wrong7. ___ A way to look confident and in control8. ___ Keeps weight down9. ___ Rebellion - defining self as different or unique from a group10. ___ A reminder to breathe11. ___ Something to do with your mouth and hands12. ___ Shutting out stimuli from the outside world13. ___ Shutting out emotions from the inside world14. ___ Something to do just for you and nobody else15. ___ A way to shift gears or changes states16. ___ An way to feel confident17. ___ A way to shut off distressing feelings18. ___ A way to deal with stress or anxiety19. ___ A way to get attention20. ___ Marking the beginning or the end of something

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2. Smoking Tranquilizer

The habit of cigarette smoking is often used to tranquilize emotional issues like anxiety, stress, or low self-esteem. In addition, smoking provides comfort to people with conditions of chronic pain and depression. Smokers with emotional stress or chronic pain often turn to smoking as an attempt to treat their pain. For instance, they may use it to reduce anxiety, provide a sense of calmness and energy, and elevate their mood.

Some evidence does suggest that nicotine has some pain-relief benefits. Nicotine releases brain chemicals which soothe pain, heighten positive emotions, and creating a sense of reward. However, any benefit from smoking only eases the pain for a few minutes. Cigarettes contain many other chemicals shown to worsen healing ability of bone, tooth, and cartilage.

The mental association between smoking and pain relief can make quitting quite difficult, as can the increased short-term discomfort that quitting smoking adds to a person already suffering with chronic pain, depression, or emotional distress. What are effective ways for people with chronic pain - whether physical or emotional - to make the decision to quit smoking? First, evidence shows that in people who suffer chronic pain, smokers have more pain than nonsmokers do. Also, accept that smoking cessation may indeed make you feel worse in the short run, but may be key to regaining enough vitality to live fully with pain.

3. The Feel Good Syndrome

Smoking is a way to avoid feeling unpleasant emotions such as sadness, grief, and anxiety. It can hide apprehensions, fears, and pain. This is accomplished partly through the chemical effects of nicotine on the brain.

When smoking, the release of brain chemicals makes smokers feel like they are coping and dealing with life and stressful emotional situations. Nicotine brings up a level of good feelings. Cigarette smokers are aware when nicotine levels and good feelings begin to decrease and light up quickly enough to stay in their personal comfort zone. However, they may not realize that avoiding their feelings is not the same as taking positive steps to create a life of greater potential and meaning.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that people suffering from nicotine withdrawal have increased aggression, anxiety, hostility, and anger. However, perhaps these emotional responses are due not to withdrawal, but due to an increased awareness of unresolved emotions. If smoking dulls emotions, logically quitting smoking allows awareness of those emotions to bubble up to the surface. If emotional issues aren't

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resolved, a smoker may feel overwhelmed and eventually turn back to cigarettes to deal with the uncomfortable feelings.

4. Smoking Makes You Feel Calm and Alive

Smokers often say that lighting up a cigarette can calm their nerves, satisfy their cravings, and help them feel energized. Indeed, nicotine in tobacco joins on to receptors in your brain that release "feel good" chemicals that can make you feel calm and energized all at once. Smoking acts as a drug, inducing a feeling of well-being with each puff. But, it's a phony sense of well-being that never produces a permanent satisfying or fulfilling result. Smoking lures you into believing that you can escape some underlying truth or reality. However, smoking doesn't allow you to actually transform your day-to-day life and live connected to your deeper hopes and dreams.

Instead, when you smoke, the carbon monoxide in the smoke bonds to your red blood cells, taking up the spaces where oxygen needs to bond. This makes you less able to take in the deep, oxygen-filled breath needed to bring you life, to active new energy, to allow health and healing, and bring creative insight into your problems and issues.

5. You Are In The Midst Of Transition

If you previously quit smoking, and then resumed the habit once again, consider the idea that perhaps you are in the midst of some "growing pains." Perhaps you were feeling dissatisfied with some aspect of your life and contemplating making change. However, developing spiritually, emotionally, and physically brings with it the experience of discomfort. Old beliefs rise up, creating sensations of hurt, pain, sadness, anxiety, and uneasiness. You were feeling dissatisfied, restless, ready to change, but then felt the fear that change often ignites.

Smoking provides an escape from those uncomfortable feelings. However, smoking also brings an abrupt halt to personal transformation and the evolution of self. Although painful, these feelings are necessary in your personal development. Learning to accept feelings in a new way can help lead you out of disempowering or limiting beliefs, and into a life filled with greater happiness, satisfaction, contentment, or purpose. When you stop smoking and start breathing - conscious, deep, smoke-free, oxygen-filled breaths - your evolution will start up once again

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Cycle of Addiction

Nicotine is the chemical that makes cigarette smoking addictive. It is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Smoking is a habit that is not easily stopped. The body and mind want and need the nicotine. If a person smokes more than five cigarettes a day, he/she is usually addicted.

When people inhale the smoke of cigarettes, the nicotine goes deep into the lungs. From the lungs it goes into the bloodstream and is carried to the heart and then the brain. It only takes six seconds for nicotine to reach the brain.

Nicotine

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How Cigarettes Addict

Lungs quickly absorb nicotine and other chemicals, which go directly to the heart, then the brain. As a result, smoking delivers drugs to the brain much faster than other modes of delivery, such as injection with a needle.

Nicotine is a stimulant. It speeds things up. It makes the heart beat faster and increases blood pressure. It makes smokers feel more alert or awake. After about 45 minutes when the level of nicotine in the blood goes down, they start to feel withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal is the feeling they have when the nicotine is taken away. They may feel tired and irritable (angry, impatient, and nervous).

Smokers slowly increase the number of cigarettes they smoke to prevent the bad feelings of withdrawal. They keep increasing the number of cigarettes until they reach a certain level of nicotine in their blood. Usually they will light up a cigarette before they start to feel any withdrawal symptoms. People smoking low tar and nicotine cigarettes will have to smoke more cigarettes to reach their maintenance level.

After sleeping, the level of nicotine in the blood is lower than it is during the day. Therefore, heavy smokers will usually begin their day with a cigarette very soon after waking up. The nicotine will stimulate them and make them feel awake. A person can tell how addicted he/she is to smoking by how soon after waking, he/she lights up the first cigarette of the day.

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Symptoms of smoking

Smoker's exhibit many symptoms of smoking and nicotine addiction. These include low oxygen levels in the blood, smoky smelling clothes and hair, and nicotine stained fingers and teeth, low tolerance for exercise, smoker's cough, cold hands and feet, fatigue, hypertension, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, and loss of taste and smell.

When smokers attempt smoking cessation, they often experience symptoms of nicotine addiction and nicotine withdrawal. These include mood swings, dizziness, constipation, sleep disturbances, and headache. They can also include fatigue, irritability, anxiety, carvings for tobacco, hunger, tremors, and difficulty in concentrating. The symptoms of nicotine withdrawal can be very intense and make it seem nearly impossible to quit.

Physical symptoms- Change in sleeping pattern- Bloodshot eyes- Slurred or agitated speech- Sudden or dramatic weight loss or gain- Skin abrasions /bruises- Neglected appearance/poor hygiene- Sick more frequently

Behavioral symptoms- Hiding ,covering and lying up - Loss of control - Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities- Emotional instability- Hyperactive / hyper aggressive

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Effects of smoking

The effects of smoking on human health are serious and in many cases, deadly. There are approximately 4000 chemicals in cigarettes, hundreds of which are toxic. The ingredients in cigarettes affect everything from the internal functioning of organs to the efficiency of the body's immune system. The effects of cigarette smoking are destructive and widespread.

Effect on lungs

The lungs are organs of respiration. They are designed to carry air that contains oxygen and pass this oxygen to the blood stream. Everybody has two lungs that are divided into lobes. When somebody starts smoking this causes irritation of the cells lining the air

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tubes within the lungs (the bronchi and bronchioles). One of the body's basic

Responses to this are to produce mucus. This mucus can reduce the diameter of the air tubes making it more difficult to breathe. Have you heard of a 'smoker's cough'? This is when a smoker coughs up this mucus.

In a healthy person, there are cells lining the lungs and upper respiratory tract that have small hair-like projections called cilia present. These beat to move dust and debris out of the lungs. They are a bit like the lung's own broom sweeping team. Smoking kills these cells so that their cleaning function is no longer carried out. Dust and particles can then accumulate which is one of the reasons that smokers often complain of respiratory diseases.

One of the gases in cigarette smoke is carbon monoxide. This gas interferes with the process of oxygenation of blood in the lungs. In fact if you inhale too much carbon monoxide you will suffocate and die. This gas is present in car exhaust fumes and is responsible for the deaths of many people each year using this as a form of suicide.

Effect on brain

The brain, the center for mood and conscious thoughts, makes thinking and feeling possible. It controls the voluntary movements and regulates digestion and breathing. So, the brain controls the conscious thoughts as well as the unconscious body processes

Smoking blocks the carotid artery. So, blood supply to the brain cells are cut off. This results in stroke, called cerebral thrombosis. Smoker’s risk of having a stroke is 1.5 times

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more than non-smokers. Smoking also leads to thickening and clotting of the blood. Smoking causes oxidative stress

Effects on youngsters

Many adults who smoke become addicted to cigarettes as youngsters. The two major reasons teenagers and youngsters begin smoking are parental example and peer pressure. However, the effects of smoking on them include both short-term and long-term impact on the body's various systems.

Bad Breath and Dental Problems

The Children's Hospital of Boston states that an immediate effect of smoking on teenagers is bad breath and other dental problems, such as stained teeth and increased risks for cavities.

Body Odors

One of the effects of smoking on youngsters is the lingering smell of stale cigarettes in the hair, on clothing, and even from the pores of the skin. Many smokers may not realize how strong their odor is because, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, smokers have s decreased sense of smell.

Skin Conditions

Skin problems are another effect of smoking on youngsters because smoking restricts blood vessels. Thus, oxygen is unable to adequately flow in the skin, leading to pale or yellow skin. A research study in Italy states that smokers increase their risks of suffering from psoriasis.

Premature Aging

The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health, a subsidiary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that the effects of smoking on youngsters include premature signs of aging like wrinkles, especially around the lips.

Smaller Lungs

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that youngsters who smoke have smaller lungs and hearts than non-smoking teens, which can lead to shortness of breath and persistent coughing.

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Respiratory Ailments

Youngsters smoking catch more respiratory enough collagen to repair muscles. Ailments, such colds, the flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia, than non-smokers and take longer to recover when they get sick. Smokers with asthma also have lower lung capacity than their non-smoking counterparts.

Athletic Performance

That one of the effects of smoking on youngsters is a reduction in physical fitness and an increased chance of injury. This occurs because of decreased circulation and the inability of the body to produce

Effect on women

According to a recent survey, many women continue to smoke cigarette without

considering its negative effects. About 21 percent of women who smoke are between the ages of 18 and 44. As these young women age and continue smoking, they develop more smoking-related complications and disabilities like the following:

Smoking and Infertility

Infertility is a major problem of women (Infertility problems). Delaying childbirth is the primary cause of infertility for both smoking and non-smoking women. However, delaying of childbirth among smoking women puts them at a significantly greater risk of infertility in future than non-smoking women.

Studies show that the fertilization problem is increasing more and more among smoking women due to the decrease in ovulatory response, along with fertilization and

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implantation of a zygote. The chemicals in tobacco affect cervical fluid, making the fluid toxic to sperm and resulting in difficulty in falling pregnant.

Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoking during pregnancy not only affects the mother, but also the child. Chemicals in tobacco pass through pregnant mothers to the fetus via the bloodstream where it causes serious risks to the unborn baby.

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy also results in low birth weight, pre-term delivery, miscarriage, placenta previa, premature rupture of membranes, and neonatal death.

Smoking and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is a painful disease of uterus, fallopian tubes and other reproductive organs. The disease requires urgent medical support and is a major factor in ectopic pregnancy, pelvic adhesions and other fertility-related problems. The occurrence of pelvic inflammatory disease is about 33 percent more in women who smoke than in non-smoking women.

Smoking and Menstruation

Smoking increases the risk of early menopause. Smoking women often experience menopause symptoms 2-3 years earlier than women who do not smoke.

Abnormal bleeding, vaginal discharges, vaginal infection, and amenorrhea are complications of menstruation that develop among women who smoke. The toxic effect of tobacco on the ovaries significantly lowers levels of estrogen and is the main cause of abnormalities in menstrual periods and premature menopause in women smokers.

Smoking and Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis (osteoporosis prevention) is very common for older women. Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones that leads to reduction in bone density, increased bone fragility, weakness and fractures. Women who smoke often develop osteoporosis and loss of bone density 5 to 10 percent earlier than non-smoking women who reach menopause.

Heart disease, hormone problems, breast cancer, cervical cancer and vulvar cancer are some of the other complications that develop in smoking women.

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Smoking Effects on the Human Body

Toxic ingredients in cigarette smoke travel throughout the body, causing damage in several different ways.

Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.

Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing affected cells from carrying a full load of oxygen.

Cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) in tobacco smoke damage important genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to reproduce too rapidly.

The carcinogen benzo (a) pyrene binds to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers.

Smoking affects the function of the immune system and may increase the risk for respiratory and other infections.

There are several likely ways that cigarette smoke does its damage. One is oxidative stress that mutates DNA, promotes atherosclerosis, and leads to chronic lung injury. Oxidative stress is thought to be the general mechanism behind the aging process, contributing to the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and COPD.

The body produces antioxidants to help repair damaged cells. Smokers have lower levels of antioxidants in their blood than do nonsmokers.

Smoking is associated with higher levels of chronic inflammation, another damaging process that may result in oxidative stress.

Effects on environment

Smoking and the Environment: Smoking not only affects the smoker’s health, it also greatly influences the surrounding atmosphere. Smoke and cigarette butts affect the environment the most, resulting into air, water and land pollution. Even the production of cigarettes influences the environment a lot.

All smokers think that by smoking they are only damaging their health. They are ignorant about the fact that their smoking is indirectly affecting others health. And they are one of the direct contributors to the environmental pollution.

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There are few environmental issues, which every smoker should be aware of. Smoking affects your environment greatly. This article would be discussing the various effects of smoking on the environment.

How Smoking Causes Air Pollution? (Smoking environment pollution)It is quite evident that smoking causes air pollution and to some extent also pollutes the ground. Approximately 4000 chemicals are present in cigarettes, which are breathed out and released in the atmosphere. Out of the total North American population 30% of them are smokers and the percentage of the smoking population in developing countries is much higher. This indicates that an enormous quantity of pollution is being released in the atmosphere every day.

How Smoking Causes Land and Water Pollution? (Smoking environment damage)Pollution caused due to smoking is not confined only to the air or body but to some extent it is also responsible in polluting the land and the water. Every day millions of cigarette butts are left on the ground. Maximum of the cigarette butts finally end up in lakes and rivers. By mistake fishes and other water animals eat these butts resulting in death of these water bodies. The remaining butts left on the ground will approximately take 25-26 years to decompose. The various additives and chemicals are leached into the soil, polluting the soil as well as plants. During dry seasons cigarette butts can even cause major fire, which is even harmful for the environment.

How Cigarette Production Affects Environment? (Effects of smoking environment)Effects of smoking environment: Major impact on the environment is due the production of the cigarettes. The land, which is used for the cultivation of tobacco plants, could be better used for producing food for the third world countries. Moreover as the tobacco plant is highly susceptible to pests and disease so to maintain their proper growth and health various chemicals and pesticides are being sprayed. For the production and packaging of the cigarette requires a lot of trees.

In an hour cigarette-manufacturing unit requires almost 4 miles of paper for rolling and packaging of the cigarettes. Just to produce 300 cigarettes one tree is being wasted. Energy and water is also being wasted for the production of the cigarettes as well as the chemical wastes from the manufacturing unit is also dumped into the soil. Hence it is clear the cigarettes are in total adding huge strain on the body and environment.

With the use of more advance technology tobacco industry can help in decreasing the strain from the environment. But just to save billions of dollar profit/year the industry is not willing to go for the advanced technology. The best and the easiest way to control this environmental destruction, is to stop buying this harmful product. It is tough to quit smoking but directly (your health) and indirectly (environment) it will be beneficial for you only

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Effects on society

Smoking effects society in the ways that it pollutes the air, makes room for new laws such as smoking zones, it’s a multimillion dollar industry so it brings in high taxes which is why we can't make cigarettes illegal although marijuana is much less dangerous and is still forbidden by law, and of course there is huge number of death by smoking. This affects others in the surrounding non-smoking community, because second hand smoke can also contribute to illnesses in people who don't smoke regularly, and it can also put a strain on family members when they have a loved one battling a disease that is addicted to cigarettes.

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Disadvantages of smoking

Smoking is very dangerous for your health. There are only disadvantages of smoking. I can't find any single advantage of smoking. However if you ask smoker, "Why do you smoke? What you will get by smoking a cigarette?" Well, they will tell you lots of benefits of smoking. Some of them are smoking makes you relax, smoking reduces stress etc...

Cigarettes are made using tobacco. Tobacco contains nicotine. Nicotine is very harmful drug for your health. When you smoke a cigarette, you are not taking only nicotine inside your body but you take thousands of other chemicals also.

At the time of smoking, you are taking carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in to your lung through tobacco burning. This carbon dioxide will be mixed with your blood and slowly it will reduce your efficiency of doing work. I mean you will feel tired. You cannot run as fast as non smoker can run. Smoking will create breath problems. Another problem with smoking is that it may increase your blood pressure. Chances of heart attack will increase with smoking. Chances of being diabetic patient will be more. Chances of lung cancer will be more in smoker because of carbon monoxide and nicotine.

Your immune system will also be affected. Smoker feel elder than non smoker of their age. Resistance power against diseases will be reduced.

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Another issue is that work capacity of your brain will be reduced. Study shows that smokers will start losing their memory at the age of 50. Stress problem is common in smokers. Sometimes it leads to minor depression. Smoking creates only problems.

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Advantages of smoking

If there are many disadvantages of smoking, there will always be an advantage in smoking. Here are 18 benefits of cigarette smoking.

1. — Smoking improves human information processing

– Higher nicotine cigarettes produce greater improvements [in information processing] than low-nicotine cigarettes

– Nicotine can reverse the detrimental effects of scopolamine on performance

– Smoking effects are accompanied by increases in EEG arousal and decreases in the latency of the late positive component of the evoked potential

2. Smoking improves motor performance

3. Smokers in general are thinner than nonsmokers, even when they ingest more calories

4. Smokers have less plaque, gingival inflammation and tooth mobility than nonsmokers

5. Smokers have lower incidence of postoperative deep vein thrombosis than nonsmokers

6. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is less common among smokers

7. Hypertension (high blood pressure) and postpartum hemorrhage are lower in smokers

8. RBCs [red blood cells] from cigarette smokers contain more glutathione and catalase and protect lung endothelial cells against O2 [dioxide] metabolites better than RBCs from nonsmokers

9. Smoking protects against Parkinson’s disease

10. There is a low prevalence of smoking in ulcerative colitis? And that the disease often starts or relapses after stopping smoking

11. Nonsmokers and especially ex-smokers of cigarettes have greater risk of UC [ulcerative colitis]

12. Hypertension and postpartum hemorrhage are lower in smokers

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13. Smoking has a protective effect on immunological abnormalities in asbestos workers

14. The WHO, in order to “prove” the dangers of ETS, financed the second largest study in the world on secondhand smoke.

But the study “backfired” and showed not only that there was no statistical risk of disease on passive smoking, but even a protective effect for those who are exposed to it.

Not surprisingly, it is said that the WHO tried to hide the study from the media.

15. That in an Australian study, 91.8% of those who never smoked reported a long term illness, while those who smoked reported 89.0%

16. That an Australian study sampling, among other things, individuals over 45 years of age, found that 6.0% of smokers suffered from heart disease, versus 6.7% never-smokers and 11.4% ex-smokers

17. Australian study sampling, among other things, individuals over 45 years of age, found that 11.3% of smokers suffered from hypertension, versus 27.0% ex-smokers and 29.0% never-smokers

18. Australian study sampling, among other things, individuals over 45 years of age, found that 38.9% of smokers were overweight, versus 49.5% ex-smokers and 44.1% never-smokers

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Smoker vs. Non-Smoker Worker – 6 Interesting Facts to Know

Let’s not talk about the advantages and disadvantages of smoking. It’s something that is common enough knowledge. It’s not that smokers don’t know or are unaware of the facts that smoking is bad for them; it’s just that they are unable to care.

Here are six interesting fact about smokers vs. non-smokers that might make the prospect of ‘not smoking’ interesting.

There is a Distinct Difference in Health

This is an oft-repeated fact, but true enough and cannot be hammered home, often enough. Forget about stained teeth and hair, the effect of smoking are much more than just changes to the appearance. One of the most tragic ailments affecting smokers is cancer. Cancer of the throat and various other parts of the body; all types of cancer are very painful. People who do not smoke are less susceptible to the adverse effects of smoking, which include amongst various other affects, breathing, heart action, intestinal problems etc. Heart disease is yet another bane of regular non-smokers.

Air Pollution and Smoking

Smoking could be a small subset of air pollution. However, if you look at it like a ‘verb’ and something that one indulges in, then here is another interesting fact. Air pollution the scourge of the modern world affects a smoker more than a non-smoker. Yes, all the auto exhausts, industrial pollutants etc affects smoker more than the non-smoker. This is because when one smokes regularly, the cilia that clean the lungs die gradually, while a non-smoker has the benefit of the lung-cleaning cilia. In such a case a smoker is more prone to be affected by lung cancer than a non smoker.

Another Illness Fact

This one is not about a description of an illness but about recovery. The time take to recover from any specific illness, of any nature is usually more for a smoker, than for a non-smoker. This could be any illness and not just an affliction that is result of smoking. There have been many cases wherein, a non-smoker has lived to tell the tale, while a smoker hasn’t pulled through.

Spending Money on Cigarettes

If a smoker calculates or keeps track of the amount of money spent on buying cigarettes, they will realize after a few years that they have actually spent a small fortune. It’s not

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just the cigarettes, but considers the amount of money that a smoker will spend in buying matches, holders, and various other accessories that are a part of smoking. A non-smoker can make good use of this kind of money elsewhere.

Dying Early

A bit dramatic, but there it is! If you are a smoker then your life span is shorter than that of a non-smoker. This fact has been proven through various studies. The average non smoker has a tendency to live longer than an average smoker. Also, if this is the case then a smoker will lose quite a lot of money due to him, with respect to social security benefits and various other benefits.

Work and Smoking

You, if you are a smoker, would like to believe that you work as hard as the next man; and maybe you do. But on an average, a smoker misses more work days per year then a non-smoker. These ‘misses’ are accompanied by a loss of pay and you have a very dissatisfied smoker. Once again various studies conducted have come out with this fact

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The Facts about Smoking - How and Why To Quit

Cigarette, cigar, and pipe-smoking are so debilitating that the immediate cessation of the habit is always the first step of any program to improve one's health - even more important than vitamins, diet, or exercise.

International studies of millions of people by government, industry, universities, and private research institutions have determined that smoking can cause:

1. Stained teeth, fingers, and hair2. Increased frequency of colds, particularly chest colds and bronchitis 3. Asthma 4. Neuralgia 5. Gastrointestinal difficulties, constipation, diarrhea, and colitis       6. Headaches7. Nausea8. Convulsions 9. Leukoflakia (smoker's patch)10. Insomnia 11. Heart murmur12. Buerger's disease (inflammation of blood vessel linings)                                                             13. Shortness of breath

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14. Arthritis 15. Smoker's hack16. Nervousness17. Wrinkles and premature aging 18. Tension 19. Gastric, duodenal, and peptic ulcers20. Lung cancer21. Cancer of the lip, tongue, pharynx, larynx, and bladder22.Emphysema23.High blood pressure24. Heart disease25. Arthrosclerosis & arteriosclerosis (thickening and loss of elasticity of the blood vessels with lessened blood flow) 26. Inflammation of the sinus passages27. Tobacco angina (nicotine angina pectoris) 28. Pneumonia 29. Influenza 30. Pulmonary tuberculosis 31. Tobacco amblyopic 32. Impaired hearing 33. Decreased sexual activity34. Mental depression 

Blood flow to the extremities is decreased (cold hands and feet).One puff lowers the temperature in the fingertips 1ºF to 3ºF in 3 minutes.

Nicotine affects the nerve-muscle junctions, causing tremors and shaking. Nicotine causes narrowing and constriction of the arteries, adding to the heart's load. Nicotine, through its ability to stimulate, causes excitement and anxiety. But the effect wears off; often a period of depression follows, whereupon another cigarette is taken. Nicotine, an insecticide, makes the blood more viscous and decreases the available oxygen. It also adversely affects the breathing, sweating, intestinal, and heart actions of our autonomic nervous system, probably due to hindering the blood flow to the nerve centers in the brain.

Two to four cigarettes in a row increase blood fats 200 to 400%. The average smoker (30 cigarettes per day) has 4 to 6 times the chance of having heart disease if he's in the 45-54 year age group.

If the mother smoked during pregnancy, her baby will average 6 ounces less and its pulse will be 30% faster than a non-smoker's baby, and there'll be withdrawal symptoms in the

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baby after birth. Premature birth has been related to smoking by the mother. There is a direct link between parents' smoking and children's respiratory disease.

Smoking causes widespread permanent destruction of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) and narrowing of small blood vessels in the lungs, decreasing the oxygen supply, requiring a higher blood pressure, thus causing extensive circulatory problems and premature heart attacks. Smokers have difficulty running and exercising.

The cilia are tiny, delicate, hair like coverings on the thin membrane of the surface of the lungs and trachea that, by means of their whipping, beating action, produce an upward current of foreign material and mucus from the lungs which is then swallowed or expectorated. This is the way the body cleans the lungs. This delicate lung-cleaning mechanism, in a cigarette smoker, at first paralyzes, then deteriorates, and is eventually made inoperative, through the complete destruction of the cilia. The smoker then must resort to coughing as a lung-cleaning method. This isn't efficient, and more than a cupful of tars will have accumulated in his lungs by the time of his premature death.

Air pollution (auto exhausts, industry wastes, etc.) increases the lung cancer rate of the smoker, but not of the non-smoker. Apparently, the lung-cleaning cilia are alive and working for the non-smoker.

The time to recover from any specific ill, whether caused by smoking or not, is much longer for the smoker. Often, a non-smoker will survive a sickness from which he would have died had he smoked.

The non-smoker has no need to spend money to buy cigarettes, matches, lighters, holders, ashtrays, or to spend a dime a mile for that special trip to the store. Just the cigarettes alone amount to around Rs 14500/- per year or even more depend from person to person.

One can easily calculate its expense via help of smoking cost calculator

http://easycalculation.com/health/cost-of-smoking.php

By dying earlier, the smoker will lose many tens of thousands of dollars in social security and other benefits which will naturally end up in the pockets of the non-smoker. The cigarette tax is more money from the smoker to the non-smoker.

The smoker is sick more often, explaining why he misses an average of 7½ work days per year, usually with a loss of pay, while the non-smoker will miss only 4½ days.

The smoker must spend valuable time looking for ashtrays, cigarettes, matches, retail stores, vending machines, or change for these machines. He experiences displeasure if

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they aren't immediately at hand. Just the process of deciding on "which brand" wastes vast amounts of mental, physical, and financial resources.

The overall bad health of the smoker results, on average, in a decrease of 8.3 years in his life expectancy, or about 12 to 14 minutes per cigarette. Just in lost social security income alone, this amounts to about a 5¢ a cigarette. The actual cost of each cigarette when you include extra medical expenses, lost pay, etc., is of the order of 25¢ per cigarette (1971 figures).

Just the extra medical expenses alone can be expected to eventually use up all of a smoker's hard-earned savings, already depleted by the high cost of smoking. By the time non-smokers get sick, Medicare will foot their medical bills.

The smoker's body requires more sleep every night. This extra sleep must come from his spare time. Besides needing more sleep, smokers don't sleep as well.

Smoking destroys vitamins, particularly vitamin C and the B's. Smoking has induced cancer in dogs. Insurance rates can be higher for smokers. Some 100,000 doctors stop smoking every year.

Foods will taste much better to non-smokers. Many subtle flavors and aromas will be savored if your nasal and oral senses are freed of the effects of harsh chemicals, coal tars, and other combustion products. How long has it been since you've experienced the smell of fresh-cut grass or the delicate taste of lobster from Maine or Nova Scotia?

Other disadvantages of smoking: You must always carry cigarettes and matches; your pockets bulge - or there's less space in your purse; smelly breath; smelly house; smelly clothes; messy rugs and furniture, often burned; cigarettes lying around for kids to smoke (and matches to light); you're a bad influence on kids; you're held in low esteem by your kids and your friends (even your smoking friends); the inside of your home and auto windows need cleaning more often; death or property loss due to smoking in bed. Some 120 persons have died in two airline crashes that have been attributed to ashtray and lighter-fluid fires. Cigarette smoke collects with lint and is known to gum up delicate mechanisms such as aircraft controls. Smokers get into more auto accidents due to being less alert, having slower reflexes, and also due to fussing around while driving (lighting up, etc.). In Czechoslovakia it's illegal to smoke while driving. Accident-proneness has been related to smoking.

A non-smoker would have to put on an additional 150 pounds in order to increase his mortality rate to that of an average smoker.

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The fact that the tobacco industry provides work, that wouldn't exist without it, is a myth. The money now wasted on tobacco, if diverted elsewhere, would create a wealth of new job openings in industries producing goods and services more useful to the society than cigarettes. Smoking makes a person irritable and argumentative, partially due to a subconscious knowledge of all of the above facts. Smoking has been related to brain damage and premature senility.

A smoker needs much more food and sleep since nicotine makes his body work harder and less efficiently and his heart beat faster, thus using more fuel and energy. This, together with the fact that a smoker loses much of his appetite and his taste for food, explains why smokers have less trouble keeping their weight down. When one quits smoking, it's IMPERATIVE that the intake of food is drastically reduced in order to keep the body weight normal. Having to eat less is of course an additional saving of time and money. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone quit smoking? There'd be less general litter, no more butts, ashes, or wrappers in the streets, grass, urinals, etc.; no more smoke in restaurants, theaters, airplanes or buses; a more alert society, with more spare time to enjoy or improve their lot in life; fewer auto, plane, on-the-job, and household accidents; fewer forest fires; less air pollution; lower auto and life insurance rates; and fewer people coughing and spitting in public. By inflicting smoke on your non-smoking friends, it's been shown that even THEIR health and life expectancy are adversely affected.

Notice how many of your friends have quit smoking in the last 5 years. They're the smart ones (and you know it). Lower intelligence has been related to smoking. In fact, smoking is both a cause and an effect of lower intelligence, just as smoking is both a cause and effect of lower income. The (smoking)-(lower-intelligence)-(lower-income)-(more smoking) vicious circle can unknowingly spiral a brainwashed young person down and down into the depths of poverty and despair. He'll not be as physically or mentally able to cope with life's challenges. Our successful capitalistic system is based on competition, and the physically-mentally handicapped smoker inevitably ends up at the bottom of the heap. So get smart, today, now, and join the happy, healthy ranks of the non-smokers

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Quitting the Filthy Habit

The smoker's body cells have become addicted to nicotine, and to quit smoking won't be easy, since withdrawal symptoms can be expected. Here are some helpful tips that might ease the quitting process:

If you're a light smoker, you should quit immediately, only moderately shocking your system.

The heavy smoker should allow two weeks for cutting down, then quit completely. An extended cutting-down period only prolongs the pain. Prepare for an agonizing month or two, though you might get off easily. The close family must give up, too, at least in your presence. It'd of course be best if the whole family quit at once. The pain and agony you'll suffer can be relieved completely in most persons by taking vitamin C to bowel tolerance. That means to take as little as one gram or as many as fifty grams (50,000 milligrams) every day until you reach the point of liquid diarrhea, then decrease the amount until your stools are normal. But "normal", for many smokers, means frequent constipation. Stools must always be soft, never, ever, necessitating any straining.

Wholesale Nutrition specializes in vitamin C powder products, many of which were invented by us and are sold exclusively by our company.

If anti-smoking drugs help (Nikoban, Bantron, Pronicotyl), good, but be prepared to find they won't. Vitamins C and B1 and tranquilizers often help to decrease irritability and other withdrawal symptoms.

After eating don't sit down. Take a walk instead. Try to avoid situations that you associate with smoking, such as sitting in your favorite chair, particularly after dinner. Try to avoid situations that are conducive to smoking, such as bars, meetings, and boredom. Don't invite smoking friends over during the critical first few months. Never, anytime, let them smoke in your soon-to-be smell-free home. In fact, after you've quit for a few months, you'll notice how your clothes still have a strong residual smell of an ashtray. It may be necessary to clean or clear away every source of that smell, usually from carpets and clothes. Then get ready for a new life of clean lungs and great health. Your non-smoking friends won't avoid you anymore now that you no longer smell like an ashtray.

When you get that urge to smoke (and you will), drink some water. If that doesn't work, suck a prune and keep the pit in your mouth for an hour. Try the buddy system: phone a friend who's also trying to quit. Think of the satisfaction of not having given in to that

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filthy urge. Think how bad you'll feel if you do give in. Think about how your cigarette money helps support those hypocritical tobacco companies whose income is derived at the expense of the health, wealth, happiness, efficiency, and resources of the addicted smoker.

Keep this smoking facts sheet with you at all times, and re-read it when necessary, to refresh your memory of all the ugly disadvantages of smoking, and all the advantages of not smoking.

Try to avoid calories, but if you find that substituting food for cigarettes helps you give up smoking, and then by all means have an apple, gum, beef jerky, or a prune. If at all possible, exercise a bit every day, especially when you get the urge to smoke. It's a good substitute, and you'll find that exercising comes much easier as a non-smoker.

After giving up, that filthy urge may remain for several years, so don't start again. Some people are lucky in that after a few months the thought of smoking makes them sick. But don't bank on being lucky.

Cigarette displays, cigarette ads, cigarette machines, anything having to do with smoking, must be looked upon in your mind as existing only for those poor unfortunates who are addicted to that filthy habit.

Life's too good and too short to waste on that filthy habit.

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Tapering Off Method to Quit Smoking

When a person quits smoking by tapering off, he/she reduces the number of cigarettes smoked little by little over a period of time. Also, he/she may switch brands by gradually going from a brand that is high in nicotine to one that is lower and lower. One day he/she is not smoking anymore.

Some people who taper off see a doctor. The doctor may prescribe either nicotine chewing gum or a patch. Both work the same way to decrease the amount of nicotine in the person's system. With nicotine gum, the smoker chews it whenever he/she feels the desire to smoke. Over time he/she chews fewer and fewer pieces of gum and feels less

desire for a cigarette.

The nicotine patch is placed on a smoker's skin by a doctor

It releases a continuous amount of nicotine through the skin into the bloodstream. Over a period of time, the doctor changes the patch to smaller and smaller ones. Eventually it is removed. If a smoker continues to smoke with either the nicotine patch or chewing gum, he/she could get very sick or even die from too much nicotine in the body.

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Whatever method a person chooses to quit, he/she will probably feel bad during the first week or two of quitting. The first 2 or 3 days are the worst. This is the time when the body is getting rid of the nicotine.

People who quit can expect to have headaches, dry mouth, a cough, and trouble sleeping. They may feel nervous, irritable or in a bad mood, depressed, tired, and hungry. They need to drink a lot of water and fruit juices, especially during the first week of quitting. They should also eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, chew sugarless gum and toothpicks, and suck on cough drops and hard candies. They need to stay busy by exercising, getting new hobbies, and visiting nonsmoking friends and relatives. Above all, they should avoid foods and situations that remind them of smoking. For example, many people find it helpful not to drink alcohol or coffee or hang out in bars (See the list of nicotine withdrawal symptoms on the right.).

It is natural to gain weight when quitting smoking. On the average, people gain five pounds. To prevent weight gain and help fight the desire to smoke, people must exercise and eat a low fat/low sugar diet. It does not mean dieting. (See preventing weight gain on the right)

Walking just 30 minutes each day is something that almost everyone can do. People should see their doctor to make a safe exercise plan.

Practicing deep breathing or meditation helps people to stay smoke free. It relaxes them. It can be done almost anywhere or any time. When they feel that strong desire for a cigarette, they sit in a comfortable position or lie down on their back. If it is possible, they should remove their shoes, eyeglasses, and any tight clothing. They then breathe in through the nose saying the word "calm" to them and slowly breathe out saying "relax." They should be breathing through their diaphragm. The diaphragm is located below the ribs and above the belly button. It fills with air when we inhale and moves outward. When we exhale, it releases air and moves inward.

People begin meditation by practicing deep breathing for ten full breaths. To get more relaxed, they can increase the number of breaths and length of time they meditate. This should be done gradually or little by little.

Within weeks of quitting, ex-smokers start to feel much better. Their senses of taste and smell return. Their cough goes away. They have more energy. They get rid of bad breath and the smoky smell on their clothes and in their hair. They have improved their chances of a longer, healthier life.

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40

Smoking in India

Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India, and unless corrective action is taken soon that number will increase to 1 million smoking-related deaths annually by 2010 and beyond, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted by scientists from India, Canada and the UK. For the study, 900 field workers gathered information from a sample of 1.1 million homes in all parts of India.

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Highlights of the study include:

-Smoking may soon account for 20 percent of all male deaths and 5 percent of all female deaths among Indians between the ages of 30 and 69.

-About 61 percent of men who smoke can expect to die between the ages of 30 and 69, compared with only 41 percent of non-smoking men who are similar in other ways.

-About 62 percent of women who smoke can expect to die between the ages of 30 and 69, compared to only 38 percent of non-smoking women.

-On average, men who smoke bidi—the popular hand-rolled cigarettes that contain about one-quarter as much tobacco as a full-sized cigarette—shorten their lives by about six years. Men who smoke full-sized cigarettes lose about 10 years of life.

-Bidi-smoking women shorten their lives by about eight years on average.

-Smoking 1-7 bidis a day, for example, raised mortality risks by 25 percent while smoking an equal number of cigarettes daily doubled the risk of death to 50 percent.

The study did not examine the mortality risks of secondhand smoke, which the U.S. Surgeon General has declared a significant health hazard for non-smokers, especially children.

"It is truly remarkable that one single factor, namely smoking, which is entirely preventable, accounts for nearly one in 10 of all deaths in India,” said Harvard University Professor Amartya Sen. "The study brings out forcefully the need for immediate public action in this much-neglected field."

Half of smoking deaths occur among illiterate Indians. There are approximately 120 million smokers in India, about 37 percent of all men and 5 percent of all women between the ages of 30 and 69. The government is taking several steps to control tobacco use, including making special efforts to inform people who are poor or illiterate about the dangers of smoking. According to the study, more than 50 percent of the tobacco-related deaths in India occur among illiterate men or women, and 80 percent of those people reside in rural India.

Indian health authorities have urged the government to do more, but some politicians oppose further action because they want to protect the jobs of tobacco workers.

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India third on global 'female smoking list'Indian women are among the worst in the world when it comes to smoking. According to the latest Tobacco Atlas, the country ranks third in the top 20 female smoking populations across the globe.

Only the US with 2.3 crore female smokers and China with 1.3 crore women smokers are worse off than India in this chart. However, as far as percentage of women smoking is concerned it is below 20 % for India.

Among India's immediate neighbors, only Pakistan figures in this infamous list, but rightat the bottom at 20th with around 30 lakh female smokers

Published by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation, the Atlas makes another serious observation -- female smokers in India die an average eight years earlier than their non-smoking peers.

According to the Atlas, about 250 million women in the world are daily smokers -- 22% being from high resource countries and 9% from low and middle resource countries.

Realizing the potential of this growing market, the Atlas said the tobacco industry has been marketing cigarettes to women using seductive but false images of vitality, emancipation, slimmer, sophistication and sexual allure.

Reacting to the report, Dr P C Gupta, director of Healis Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, told TOI that this finding had very serious implications for India. "Even though the percentage prevalence of women smoking in India isn't that high, the number is huge. In addition to all the harm that tobacco causes to men, women are additionally exposed in a special way because of their reproductive function “.

Dr Gupta added that tobacco consumption reduced birth weight of the foetus, decreased their gestational age leading to premature babies, increased the risk of still births and heightened chances of anemia among adult pregnant women. "The government isn't

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focusing on anti-tobacco campaign that specially targets women. Smoking is definitely increasing in young college going women showing that the tobacco industry is targeting them very strongly," Dr Gupta added.

The Atlas said tobacco killed some six million people each year -- more than a third of whom will die from cancer -- and drained $500 billion annually from global economies.

As 25% of smokers die and many more become ill during their most productive years, income loss devastates families and communities. In 2010, 72% of those who die from tobacco related illnesses would be in low- and middle-income countries. By 2030, 83% of these deaths will occur in low and middle-income countries.

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CELEBRITIES INFLUENCE SMOKING

Celebrities influence our decision to start smoking. We see them in different scenes puffing and it doesn’t matter what is the subject they are still smoking. Pictures of movie stars smoking appear civilized and glamorous. They are shown with a cigarette when they are at a party or going to by something from the store. The brands they usually smoke are: Camel, Winston , Marlboro brand, Virginia Slims , Salem etc, and these become a point of campus discussion later.

There is a possibility that the stars were influenced by the glamour of smoking when in the past glamour was associated with cigarettes. Maybe if someone spends too much time in a fantasy world or in a movie then that someone starts to believe in celluloid image. For example Gloria Swanson in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ lost touch with the reality.

Not long times ago at Hollywood many actors were smoking and were so proud of it. Cigarette smoking was sophisticated and glamorous. The iconic image of Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is posting so elegantly with her long cigarette holder upswept chignon and little black dress.

She was of course elegant, until she started to smoke very much during her scenes. Her mother said that that she should keep to six cigarettes a day only. When Hepburn had hard times she smoked two or three packs a day. For most of her life she suffered from asthma and died of cancer at 63.

Smoking in movies is very common nowadays like it was in 1950’s. There was a little decreasing of smoking in the population. Maybe the actors with the help of cigarettes tried to go into another skin.

Many celebrities have decided to quit smoking because they realize the harm they do to their health, but many of them continue to smoke even more.

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Smoking Deaths on the Rise in Developing Nations Worldwide

The projected increase in smoking-related deaths in India is part of a global trend, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which estimates that smoking-related deaths worldwide will surpass 9 million annually by 2020—with 7 million of those deaths occurring in developing nations.

Twenty-five years ago, nearly 70 percent of the lung cancer deaths worldwide occurred in high-income nations. Today, 50 percent of lung cancer deaths occur in low-income nations, and by 2030 that number is expected to increase to 70 percent.

Tobacco Companies Targeting Developing Nations

One reason for the change is that consumer education, regulation and societal pressure have lowered smoking rates in many developed countries, which has also brought down the number of smoking-related deaths in those nations. Another reason for the shift is that tobacco companies have mounted aggressive marketing campaigns in developing countries, where there are few restrictions on how they sell or advertise their products, to help compensate for decreased smoking rates and lower profits in developed nations.

Currently, 1.3 billion people worldwide smoke or use other tobacco products, and nearly 5 million die as a result. Eighty-four percent of the world’s tobacco users live in countries with developing or transitional economies.

WHO Takes Aim at Cancer and Tobacco Use

WHO has started a global effort to reduce cancer deaths worldwide—aiming to prevent 8 million cancer deaths by 2015—and a primary focus of that initiative is to lower tobacco use in developing countries. "Even if smoking rates stayed the same worldwide, we would see a huge increase in cancer incidence in the next decades just because of the growth and aging of the population," said Peter Boyle, PhD, director of the International

46

Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, a WHO research organization. "Whereas there were 100 million deaths in the 20th century caused by tobacco, if current trends continue, there will be 1 billion in the 21st century. Tobacco is the biggest enemy we face.”

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Questionnaire

Please respond to the following statements and questions:

Place a check in front of your age group:

____ 18 – 20 ____ 21 – 24 ____ 25 – 30 ____ 31 – 34 ____ 35 – older

Gender: ____ M, ____F Profession: ________________

1. Does one or more of your parent(s) or guardian(s) currently smoke? ____ Yes ____No

2. In the home in which you grew up, did anyone else smoke? ____ Yes ____ No

3. If yes in number 1 and 2, how many members of your immediate household (parents, siblings, and grandparents) smoke? ______

4. How many times per day are you (not including yourself, if you are a smoker) in an environment where you can smell smoke or someone smoking? ____

5. Do you smoke cigarettes? ____Yes ____Noa. If you responded with Yes, please continue with question 6.b. If you responded with No, please skip to question 15.

6. At what age did you begin smoking? ____

7. What brand of cigarette do you smoke?a. Marlboro cigarettesb. Classic cigarettesc. Gold Flake cigarettesd. Gudang Garam cigarettese. Other ____________________

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Qu

esti

on

s if

yo

u

smo

ke

8. What were the reasons you started smoking?a. •b. •c. •

9. Approximately how much do you smoke?

_______ Cigarettes per day or ________ cigarettes per week

10. Name the three places you smoke most often.a. •b. •c. •

11. Do you anticipate health problems related to smoking? ____ Yes ____no

12. Have you tried to stop smoking? ____ yes ____ noa. If YES, how many times? ____b. If YES, what methods did you try?

__________________________________________

13. Do you feel you could stop smoking whenever you wanted to? ____ Yes ____No

14. Do you think that government is taking a lenient approach towards the control on supply of cigarette?

____Yes _____No

15. Do you think that stars influence youngsters to smoke?

____Yes _____ No

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Qu

esti

on

s if

yo

u

smo

ke

16. If you do not smoke now, did you ever smoke? ____ yes ____ no

17. If you did smoke, what were the two most important factors that prompted you to quit smoking?

a.b.

18. If you have never smoked, what factors have influenced you to not smoke?

a. Family Background b. Peer Pressurec. Inner Self

19. As a non-smoker how does a smoking environment affect you?

a.

b.

20. Is it a serious issue or just a passing trend?

a. It’s a serious problemb. It’s just a passing trend

Thank You

50

Q

ues

tio

ns

if y

ou

do

no

t sm

oke

.

Analysis

Does one or more of your parent(s) or guardian(s) currently smoke? ____ Yes ____No

In the home in which you grew up, did anyone else smoke? ____ Yes ____ No

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69 % Yes

31 % No

26 % No

74 % Yes

Do you smoke cigarettes? ____Yes ____No

23% No

77% Yes

At what age did you begin smoking? ____

Almost 68 % of people say they started smoking at the age of 20-23

22 % of people say they started smoking at the age of 24-26

06 % of people say they started smoking at the age of 27-30

04 % of people say they started smoking at the age of 31 and above

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What brand of cigarette do you smoke?

24%

42%

19%

11%3%

42 % of people say that they use Classic cigarettes particularly Classic Mild.25 % of people say that they use Gudang Garam cigarettes the flavor of clove.19% of people say that they use Marlboro cigarettes.11 % of people say that they use Gold Flakes cigarettes.03% of people say that they use other.

What were the reasons you started smoking?

Tension /Stress

Peer pressure Just for fun Addiction Others0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

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Approximately how much do you smoke?

0 to 1011 to 20

21 to 3030 and more

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

These figures that the addiction of smoking is increasing, advertisements showing the harmful effects of smoking should be shown via television posters and other means of communication.

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Do you anticipate health problems related to smoking? ____ Yes ____no

Yes No0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Though youngsters are not currently facing much problem due to smoking but in future if they continue smoking they will surely face health related problems n mental problems as they reach age of 40 45

55

Do you feel you could stop smoking whenever you wanted to?

80 % of people say now smoking has become a habit and it’s very difficult to overcome it ---- No

20 % of people say that they can easily stop smoking whenever they want as it’s just a time pass for them----- Yes

Do you think that government is taking a lenient approach towards the control on supply of cigarette?

____Yes _____No

Yes No0

102030405060708090

100 96

4

Do you think that government is taking a lenient ap-proach towards the control on supply of cigarette and

tabacoo?

The government is not playing its role properly when it comes to supply of cigarette, here the government can’t do much because this sector provides handsome income to the government and helps to reduce the number of unemployed people.

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Do you think that stars influence youngsters to smoke?

Yes

No

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

From the above graph we can surely say that celebrities have a considerable

effect on the smoking habit of youngsters. It is social responsibility of the

celebs to stop smoking in movies and personal life too.

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If you have never smoked, what factors have influenced you to not smoke?

a. Family Background b. Peer Pressurec. Inner Self

62 % say their family members play a vital role in shaping them and so are their values

23 % say they fall in a group where no individual smoke all people belong to a cultured society

20 % say they themselves feel to avoid smoking

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Is it a serious issue or just a passing trend?

It’s a serious problemIt’s just a passing trend

It's a serious problem

32%

It's just a pass-ing trend

68%

Most number of non smokers thinks that smoking habit among youngsters is just a passing trend and with the passage of time they will leave smoking.

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Conclusion

Smoking is a serious problem that needs to be dealt carefully. Although there are many smokers today but efforts should be made to help them to overcome the problem. There are various ways in which help could be extended to them as mentioned in the project.

Though it is only considered as a passing trend smokers should be told about the harmful effects of smoking and the harmful effects which their habit has on other people and environment. The government should carefully frame some policies on supply of cigarette which would have least affect on country’s net income and employment.

Lastly I would like to say that it was a great experience to work for the project. It has helped me to understand how intense the problem of smoking is. It has made me aware about the consequences of being a smoker.

I am now aware that there are different of problems of smoking and would never try it and would advise people to stop smoking.

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Bibliography

Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use in Young Adulthood: The Impacts of New Freedoms and New Responsibilities by Jerald G. Bachman, Katherine N. Wadsworth, Patrick M. O'Malley, Lloyd D. Johnston, John E. Schulenburg

Regulating Tobacco-by Robert L. Rabin, Stephen D. Sugarma.

Webliography

http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit1/1what_is.html

http://www.testcountry.org/smoker-vs-non-smoker-worker-6-interesting-facts-to-know.htm

http://www.mycigaretteshop.com/info/movie-stars-smoking-habit

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