The Effects of Cigarette Smoking
There have been several campaigns against cigarette smoking. The various campaigns are geared toward communicating that cigarette smoking ultimately causes death. From what I have seen, however, a threat to one’s health doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to give up smoking. People somehow disregard the information given to them and go on with their smoking habits, never giving the consequences of smoking another thought. The purpose of this essay is to address four effects of cigarette smoking besides the often mentioned increased risk of developing various cancers and the decreased life expectancy. The effects that will be discussed include, the various stains sustained from smoking, the social isolation inflicted on smokers, the disgusting smell, and the outrageous and ever increasing cost of cigarettes.
The first effect of cigarette smoking is one that many smokers and non-smokers tend not to consider, which is the staining of the teeth and hands. Cigarette smoking stains smoker’s teeth to a nasty urine yellow and sometimes even to a repulsive brown. When the cigarette is being smoked it’s held between the smoker’s fingers and causes discoloration of the fingertips as well as the finger nails. Since this effect is long term, most smokers are not aware of the staining smoking will cause when they begin smoking. The truth is cigarette stains are very hard to eliminate once acquired, and it will most likely end up costing the smoker a considerable amount of money to reverse the staining. Discolored teeth and fingers are repulsive; they give an extremely unhygienic image and often make people appear older than they are.
The second effect of cigarette smoking is social isolation. Smokers will light up a cigarette anywhere. No-smoking signs never seem to faze them. However, over the past few years many businesses, such as hospitals, restaurants, and night clubs, have become non-smoking environments. These rules are...