Secondhand Smoker

Secondhand Smoker

  • Submitted By: donnas
  • Date Submitted: 11/16/2013 7:06 PM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 690
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 73

Secondhand Smoker
Victims of Respiratory Disorders

Since I was born I have been victim of secondhand smoke. My mother started smoking when she was 20 years old. Although she never smoked while she was pregnant, she did it one year after my brother was born and every time she could while my brother and I were at home. My mother’s smoking affected my brother and I in different ways. My brother got bronchitis and pneumonia when he was one year old. When I was 18 years old I suffered from a very strong headaches caused from a big mass that was developed in my right para-nasal sinus. I understood the causes for my family’s respiratory issues when I researched the topic for this essay. I found that second hand smokers that are exposed regularly to the toxic chemicals of the cigarettes smoke could suffer serious and life- threatening health concerns. Also, in the long term these people have a greater risk of suffering from lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, heart disease, stroke, and breathing problems, including increased coughing, wheezing, pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma. Several components in cigarettes are responsible for the above negative effects and in my opinion the more relevant are nicotine, benzene, and formaldehyde.

The most active ingredient in cigarettes is nicotine. According to the National Cancer Institute, this component is an alkaloid substance that is naturally found in the tobacco plant. Very curiously side effect of this ingredient in small amounts cause addiction while in large doses it can become toxic to the body. Therefore, I found the component that makes people addictive. However, beside the addiction that this component causes to people it also harms the body. For example, the America Heart Association says, that this ingredient accompanied usually with carbon monoxide, enters the bloodstream through the lungs and restricts the amount of oxygen to the body. Consequently, vasoconstriction followed by hypertension...

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