HISTORY OF SMOKING

Smoking refers to the inhaling of smoke from the burning tobacco in a pipe, a cigar, or most commonly, a cigarette. Tobacco contains nicotine, a highly addicting drug. A number of diseases have been linked directly to smoking, and tobacco use kills 420, 000 smoker a year in united state, as well as 53, 000 non smokers a year, who die from diseases related to the passive inhalation of secondhand smoke.

History.

American Indians smoked pipes, and European explorers had carried the practice home by the early 1500s. By the late 1800s tobacco use was widespread, but people used only small amount. This change with the advent of the cigarette manufacturing machine, and in the 20^th century, as people smoked more, parallel increases in the rates of lung cancer and hearth disease occurred.

In 1964 a committee headed by the U.S. surgeon general issued a report concluding that most lung-cancer death are caused by cigarette smoking.

Health Effect.

Beside nicotine, cigarette smoke contains over 4,700 compounds, including carcinogens and industrial solvents, which cause heart disease, strokes, lung disease, and cancer.

Inhaling the hot, toxic fumes of tobacco smoke burns the linings of of air passages, impairing the respiratory system, which in turn, among other ill effects, reduces the smoker’s ability to fight of disease. The large particle in smoke form a corrosive tar that collects in the lungs, exposing the smoker to its dangerous constituent chemicals. A pregnant woman who smokes passes the toxic chemicals to her fetus low birth weight and spontaneous abortions have been linked to such behavior.

Chemical in burning tobacco (which include arsenic, cyanide, and carbon moxide) also pollute the air as secondhand smoke, which, according to a 1986 surgeon general’s report, is harmful in inhaled by nonsmokers. A1992 environmental Protection Agency report confirmed this and concluded that secondhand smoke annually causes 3,000 lung-cancer deaths in nonsmokers and up to 26,000 asthma cases in children. And in 1992 the American Heart Association reported that secondhand smoke kills about 37,000 people a year through heart disease.