Tobacco Smoking

How is tobacco made? Tobacco comes from the tobacco plant. After its harvest, a series of 'curing' the tobacco is done for the next seventy to ninety days. It is later sent to different factories for further treatments and made into products such as cigarettes, cigars, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff.

In 2011, according to the American Cancer society, about 43.8 million people smoke cigarettes in United States alone (1 in every 5 adults).
Most of these smokers are men but there are also a large amount of women smokers. The use of tobacco is common not only among adults but also among teenagers. Nearly 1 in every 3 high school students use of tobacco in some form.

What are some reasons people start smoking? Is smoking and consuming tobacco a good thing? Some people start smoking is because of peer pressure, parental influence, advertising, medication, etc. I think most teenagers take cigarettes because it might make them look "cool" or popular. But smoking will have greater consequences later in their lives.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, cigarettes kill 440,000 people in United States every year. Smoking can lead to several kinds of illnesses. It can damage your organs including your brain, heart, lungs, liver, and kidney. Helping you breathe, your lungs are especially affected. They get badly damaged because of the chemicals in cigarettes, turning into sticky brown tar. Deformed lungs can result in lung cancer that can result in death.

Another kind of consequence that we could all suffer from is its pollution. Oftentimes, after people finish their cigarettes, they litter their cigarette butts right on the streets. An estimation of the total amount of cigarette butts disposed of worldwide is 1.69 billion pounds per year. Not only do cigarettes create a massive amount of waste, it also pollutes our environment. People around these smokers can also receive damage to their lungs if they inhale too much of their smoke. Pollution can ruin animals' habitats and the air we breathe in.

What you can do:
- Stop smoking
- Pick up trash around us for our environment
- Don't smoke in public so it won't affect others

Sites Used:
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0310171/how_is_tobacco_made.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/botany/tobacco-info6.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/smoking-cessation/10-reasons-people-start-smoking2.htm
http://www.tobaccofreeca.com/smoking-problem/impact/environment/
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-addiction/what-are-medical-consequences-tobacco-use