The Effect of Tobacco On Health

The effects of tobacco on health are significant, depending on the way the tobacco is used and the amount. Major health effects of smoking, the most common use of tobacco, include an increased risk in lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization estimated in 2002 that in developed countries, 26% of male deaths and 9% of female deaths were attributable to smoking. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as “the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide.

Disease linked to tobacco smoking
Diseases linked to smoking tobacco cigarettes include:

• Many forms of cancer, particularly lung cancer, cancer of the kidney, cancer of the larynx and head and neck, breast cancer, bladder, esophagus, pancreas, and stomach. There is some evidence suggesting an increased risk of myeloid leukemia, squamous cell sinonasal cancer, liver cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer after an extended latency, childhood cancers and cancers of the gall bladder, adrenal gland and small intestine.
• Cardiovascular disease, either it may be a heart stroke or peripheral vascular disease.
• Respiratory ailments like common cold and bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema and chronic bronchitis in particular.
• Birth defects of pregnant smokers’ offspring.
• Buerger’s disease thromboangiitis obliterans.
• Cataracts that may cause blindness
• Cognitive dysfunction such as increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and decline in cognitive abilities and reduced memory and cognitive abilities in adolescent smokers and brain shrinkage.
• Finally Impotence