Cigarettes essays

Cigarettes essays Cigarettes continue to be the most popular form of tobacco worldwide. This useless habit causes devastating problems in the United States today; it is common knowledge that cigarettes are extremely additive, create health hazards for nonsmokers, and cause complications for women who smoke during pregnancy. More importantly, the government should ban cigarettes because the chemicals and tobacco smoke are harmful to the environment, and children need protection from exposure to tobacco smoke. European explorers founded tobacco, a plant that is mainly growing in America and Australia, in 1942 on the North and South of America. However, many different native cultures had long traditions of chewing, smoking, and snuffing tobacco. Used regularly in ritual and social contexts, tobacco and its counterparts were appreciated precisely for their physiological and mind-altering effects, which, among other things aided the Amerindians (Travel). The Americans grasped the importance of the plant within native cultures and verbal descriptions of its use were featured in virtually all publications about the New World (4). Tobacco is filled with all sorts of chemicals. Instead of focusing on nicotine itself and removing the toxic contaminants, the tobacco industries took the opposite course and actually added several hundred more chemicals. These additives served various purposes, primarily smoothing and aromatizing the harsh smoke of natural tobacco (Tobacco). There are many powerful poisons in tobacco smoke. Nicotine causes the blood vessels to constrict raising blood pressure and forcing it to work harder than it should. Tar is a cancer-causing substance that clings to the inside of the lungs, forming a brown, sticky coat. All tobacco contains tar. Each time someone inhales smoke, carbon monoxide enters the lungs. The tiny blood vessels in the lungs pick up carbon monoxide instead of oxygen. Ammonia (used in window cleaners), phenol (toilet bo...