Hendra Kharisma

Copyright 2006 Adam Waxler

The sad fact is cigarette smoking is part of many of our lives, regardless of whether we smoke or not. Unfortunately, this includes unborn babies as well.

Surveys show that many mothers still smoke cigarettes during their pregnancy. Most likely these women are unaware of how harmful cigarette smoking truly is on their unborn baby and are unaware that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is one of the major causes of infant deaths in the society today.

Basically, cigarette smoke alone is full of chemicals, some studies even state it has more than 2,500 chemicals. Some chemicals like tar, carbon monoxide, and nicotine are considered the most dangerous substance for the fetus. It has long been proven how these chemicals can greatly affect the development of the fetus inside the mother’s womb.

First of all, mothers who smoke while pregnant run a risk of ectopic pregnancy. This is especially viable when the mother is a heavy smoker during the first trimester of her pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancy refers to the state wherein the embryo is embedded outside the uterus, which is contrary to what normal pregnancy should be. Usually, it is embedded in the fallopian tube. In this manner, the fetus has to be removed because this kind of pregnancy will never survive. This fetus will never survive outside of the uterus where a fetus gets all the nourishment and protection that it needs. Prolonging this condition will only risk the mother’s life.

Also, smoking cigarettes during pregnancy increases the probability that the mother will develop complications in the placenta. Reports show that placental problems are actually happening in about 1% of pregnancies. The most common problem is “placenta previa” where the placenta is connected very low in the uterus and is almost at the cervix.

Another problem with smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is the deterioration of fetal growth. The fact is cigarette smoking during pregnancy results in low infant birth weight. For many years now reports have shown that there have been significant differences between babies with mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy and those who have non-cigarette smoking mothers.

Unfortunately, greater risks are imposed on babies who weigh less than the normal babies. They may acquire certain diseases like cerebral palsy, mental retardation, or worse – death.

There are also reports on how cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the probabilities of birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

Moreover, babies born with mothers who are cigarette smokers have higher incidences of sudden infant death syndrome. If ever these infants survive, they may still incur diseases like asthma, behavioral problems, or learning disabilities.

Then there are the post-pregnancy woes…

For babies with mothers who smoke regularly, problems still lurk within their environment. This is especially true to mothers who smoke even when they are breastfeeding their babies.

Studies have revealed that nicotine can be passed on to the baby through breastfeeding. There have been experiments that prove the presence of nicotine in the babies system through urine testing. It later showed that there is a higher percentage of nicotine found on babies who breastfeed to cigarette smoking mothers.

Most experts contend that the problem lies within the mother’s urge to get back to smoking cigarettes right after she gives birth.

Unfortunately, when the mother continues to smoke during the formative years of her child life, chances are she is already shaping a child that will most likely be a cigarette smoker themselves.

So, what’s the point here? The fact that the mother does not care for her own health is one thing. But the fact that she puts greater risk on her baby because of her vice is another thing.

Babies should be given the right to live a decent, normal, and healthy life. So, for the “moms-to-be” out there, please keep in mind that your babies should not be forced to suffer from the long range dangers associated with cigarette smoking. Let’s take care of them by not smoking cigarettes.

Copyright 2006 Adam Waxler

Nowadays, more and more people are becoming aware of the need to be healthy. They increase their intake of healthy foods, take vitamins to supplement their daily requirements, and go to the gym to exercise.

Unfortunately, many people still tend to neglect the adverse effect of cigarette smoking on their health. Despite knowing the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, people, for some reason, still smoke.

So, the question is, “Why?”

Maybe it is because while people know that cigarette smoking is “bad” they do not know exactly how “bad” cigarette smoking really is.

Well here’s the full story on why people should quit smoking cigarettes now:

1. Cigarette smoking kills 114,000 people each year in the United Kingdom alone.

This means that if you do not quit smoking cigarettes now, you could be the 115,000th. Smoking cigarettes really does kill and people should be aware of that.

2. Cigarette smoking is the number one factor of lung cancer.

There’s no greater factor that can trigger lung cancer in a person than what cigarette smoking can do. Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental element that instigates the formation of cancer cells in the body. This is because cigarette smoking primarily destroys the immune system of the body resulting in the body’s inability to fight back infection and to ward off harmful bacteria that enters the system.

3. Cigarette smoking really does cause cancer.

Aside from the fact that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, it can also initiate the formation of other cancer cells in the body. This is because cigarette smoke contains so many chemicals that are carcinogens. Carcinogens are the elements that cause cancer cells in the body. Once developed it could lead to acute condition of cancer which eventually leads to death.

4. Cigarette smoking is addictive and can cause hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.

The primary component of a cigarette is nicotine. Studies have proven that nicotine is addictive, which means to say that when you start smoking cigarettes it will be really difficult to stop.

Not only that, nicotine also increases your cholesterol levels. This would eventually lead to hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases that lead to heart attacks.

5. Cigarette smoking has adverse effects on your entire body.

The fact is, cigarette smoking is detrimental to your whole body, from the tip of your hair down to the tip of your toenails.

First, cigarette smoking makes your hair smelling terrible. Also, the elements found in smoking can curb the growth of your hair and it can even dry it out, losing its shine and luster.

Not only that, cigarette smoking also affects the teeth, lungs, heart, bones, and even your skin. That’s right. Cigarette smoking reduces the elasticity of your skin, thus, it will be more vulnerable to skin diseases and allergies.

The bottom line is that people should really stop cigarette smoking now because it will not only affect their lives but others as well. This is because the primary concluding effect of cigarette smoking is always death and nothing else.

It’s not a matter of choice. It’s a matter of how you value your life and your family. Is it really worth it to smoke cigarettes?

It is a well known fact in the medical community now that smoking and the morbidity and mortality that is a direct result of this destructive habit. It really is a health care crisis but the problem is that you wouldn’t know it. Doctors are to blame for this in large part and that is because they don’t make the decision to stop smoking as important and life saving as it should be.

Smoking has many deep, deep roots that are intertwined in our culture and environment otherwise. This is in part what makes it so dangerous, that is that it is so natural. In fact there are doctors practicing now that as young doctors were suggesting that people take up smoking in order to reduce the stress in our lives. The other problem is that smoking isn’t the only quiet killer that we have to deal with. If we get rid of smoking than we will start dealing with the looming crises of obesity, high fat diets, inactivity, pollution, and on and on. This is not to say that we should give up but rather not be totally distracted from other public health issues.

Anyway due to the recent awareness there has been a lot of work into figuring out how to help people stop smoking. The results of all this work is fortunately encouraging. The major concern was that it wouldn’t be a good use of the physicians clinic time to counsel and manage smoking cessation efforts. The problem was this counseling was one of the key components to successful treatment of the addiction. Then people started looking not so much at how much it was costing to have doctors spend time treating this issue but how much it was costing to allow people to continue to smoke. The numbers are staggering, and very much in favor of paying physicians to treat this addiction to nicotine.

So all that to say that doctors have gotten good at helping people decide to stop smoking and to make good on this promise. Treatment usually involves a very well proven combination of frequent office visits for counseling, contracts to quit, recruiting the support of family and friends, nicotine replacement, and other pharmacotherapies that help to make a drastic but life saving change. So if you want to live but haven’t made the plunge, please seek out a well trained and qualified physician. It’s crucial to the success of your goal to stop smoking.

Why should you quit smoking? Ah let me count the ways. Perhaps the better question by far is why in hell wouldn’t you quit smoking?

Lung cancer directly caused by smoking surpassed all other causes of death in the 1950’s and has been (though having slowly declined from that peak) ever since. And this is just talking about death. Morbidity (not mortality) caused by smoking is a 60 billion dollar industry in direct costs associated with the health care needed for smokers. That is one heck of a lot of misery! This figure doesn’t even count all of the indirect costs including loss of man hours both related to smoking breaks and sick days as well as shorter life spans with more time spent on disability. Indirect costs also include the health of the people that live with the person that smokes who have statistically speaking several times more use of healthcare dollars than the average non-smoker living in a non-smoking environment. So yeah, the better question is why shouldn’t you quit smoking?

You say well your right I should quit and I have tried several times and I cannot do it. You don’t even know how hard it is to quit smoking. And my reply is for one thing you are right and I’m glad I don’t know how hard it is to stop smoking, because I’m sure that its hard after watching people struggle with it. I would also say however that giving up is not the answer and for several reasons.

For one thing haven’t you heard the phrase “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”? This is a natural part of life to have to fight for the things in life that are really worth something. You don’t just give up on something, especially if what you are straining for will kill you if you give up, literally! Would you tell your son or daughter to just give up the fight if they had leukemia because it was going to be hard? No way, and so you can’t either.

You also want to say something but I and my body want it so bad and like it so much. And I would agree, addiction is for sure the worst part of the whole thing and makes it hardest to make a good decision to quit smoking. However it still isn’t an excuse for several reasons. It still for one thing is a life and death matter. For another, are you going to let those tobacco companies who targeted you and got you addicted on purpose get away with doing that to you? And third many have done it before you and there are good programs that help you to quit smoking. So you’ve got some thinking to do and some decisions to make. I ask you to choose life!

The first tobacco plants are thought to have grown sometime around 6000BC. It was five thousands years later that men first started smoking and chewing the tobacco plant. This happened in the Central America, and the first people to smoke are thought to be the Mayans. More than 2500 years later, in 1595, appears the first book about tobacco, called “Tobacco”. In 1600, the Pope himself forbade tobacco and smoking in any holy place. The recent history of smoking is marked by the firs lawsuit against a cigarette manufacturer, in 1983, by Rose Cipollone. He was dying from lung cancer at that time, but before his death he won $400,000. The latest major act against smoking, and smokers, of course, was in 2003, when the state of New York banned smoking in any public place.

Are YOU smoking?

If you don’t know already, let me enlighten you: you are slowly dying, because smoking kills. The drug called nicotine is can be found in any cigarette you want and this drug is a very powerful one. It is very addictive and quitting it can be done only by will. It is hard, but it isn’t impossible. Here is a fact: around 400,000 dye each year from smoking related diseases. The foremost is the lung cancer. Let’s say you don’t care about yourself, but do you care about the others, about your family, your friends, because you are hurting them as well. It is called secondhand smoke, and it is just as dangerous as smoking itself. You already knew these facts? Look at this as a remember.

Are you quitting?

Well, if you tried to quit and you just couldn’t, it means you either didn’t really want to or you didn’t know how to proceed. I wrote a few tips, to help you achieve this goal. Good luck, and remember, the most important thing is WILL.

• Decide upon a day, and just stop smoking. The best way to do it is to find someone to quit with you. As the old saying goes: The more the merrier.

• When you get the urge of smoking, don’t. Wait for a few minutes before. In the spare time, try to do other things, like eating peanuts or eating gum.

• The old switch trick always pays off. Switch to a brand of cigarettes you hate and buy just one pack at a time.

• Change your routines. When you eat dinner, don’t sit in the same place. At the begging eat only at home, or at a non-smoking friend, so you won’t be able to have a quick one after dinner.

• Always have with you other things to put in your mouth, like a toothpick, or candy (watch for those cavities), or, usually the best, bubble-gum.

• At first you will feel sleepier and more tired than usual. Also you will be more short-tempered. These things pass in a week or so.

• Talk about what you are doing. Many smokers want to know how it is possible. Explain to them; discuss it over a drink, in the non-smokers section, of course.

• If at first you fail, try again. Don’t worry, there are fewer people then you think who made it the first time.

• If nothing works, visit your doctor.

Many people, smokers and non-smokers alike, are aware of the harmful ingredients contained in today’s cigarettes. Most are also very aware of the long-lasting and potentially lethal effects that smoking- including second-hand smoke- can cause in individuals who inhale it. What you might not be aware of are the psychological benefits that can come when one kicks the habit of cigarettes. Sometimes, these benefits are surprising and can be every bit as beneficial as the numerous physical effects that will occur as your body begins to heal itself after beating the habit.

The biggest psychological benefit that comes with kicking the smoking habit is the sense of accomplishment when the task is done. When you finally stop smoking for good, there is a tremendous sense that you have shaken a very large monkey off of your back. Quitting smoking is an extremely difficult task, and those who manage to do it have every right to feel as though they can conquer the world, and this feeling will spill over into other areas of your life and help you in achieving other goals. Once you beat a habit that has been plaguing you for years, that is in fact an actual physical addiction, you will understand that there is not much you cannot accomplish once you put your mind and will into it.

As smoking becomes a distant memory, you will also be surprised in the rise of your self-esteem levels. No one denies that a big part of smoking includes the effort to cover up the smell- on your breath, on your hands, on your clothes, and in your car and your house. Once you quit, these smells become less and less of a problem, and you will no longer have to worry about other people- from lovers to your kids- shying away from you due to the smell that clings to you. You will also probably notice that your own sense of smell improves as the smoke cloud dissipates, and this too can carry with it enormous psychological benefits as you once again discover all the wonders of a spring morning, the smell of outdoor barbecues from your neighbors, and the general smells of the outdoors.

Quitting smoking also lifts a severe burden off the shoulders of smokers as far as other family members go. Many smokers are cognizant of the risks and in that vein endeavor to discourage their closest family members not to start the habit. However, as long as you yourself are smoking there is always the taint of hypocrisy attached to your words. Once you have managed to quit, this feeling will disappear and you will be able to lead by example instead of just with words.

If you are considering ceasing your smoking habit, there are thousands of others who have walked that road and who are waiting to help you out. The benefits are enormous, and some of them, like the psychological benefits, you may not expect. Be prepared to enter a whole new world of feeling once you butt out for good.

Copyright 2006 Adam Waxler

Evidence of the health risks of cigarette smoking go back to the 1950s. However, the percentage of cigarette smokers was at its peak in 1964, when the US surgeon general first issued an official warning that smoking cigarettes was hazardous to one’s health.

Following the surgeon general’s formal warning about cigarette smoking, many reports were released on the link between cigarette smoking and heart disease, lung disease, and cancer of the mouth. However, the cigarette smoking habit continued, particularly with young smokers who were most likely smoking as a sign of rebellion and/or independence.

For adults, though, smoking cigarettes marked an addiction to nicotine – the key ingredient that makes cigarette smoking both pleasurable and addictive. This addiction to nicotine led to another warning from the surgeon general in 1988, which put nicotine addiction on the same level as addictions to cocaine and heroin.

The danger in cigarette smoking comes from the chemical substances released either as a gas or as a particulate. Nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide and most especially carbon monoxide are gaseous emissions from cigarette smoke that threaten to poison the body.

Nicotine is one of several hazardous particulates emitted from smoking cigarettes. These particulates damage the cilia – the little hairs lining the lungs that help transport mucus out of the lungs. When the cilia malfunction, pollutants remain in the lungs and the likelihood of influenza and bronchitis, emphysema and other diseases increases.

Unfortunately, cigarette smoking has been cited as the cause of over 400,000 deaths in the US every year.

However, government agencies, scientists and health officials have also established that passive smoking, or second-hand smoke, also has negative effects on the human body. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has reported that over 4,000 chemicals are generated by second-hand smoke, with more than 50 of those believed to be cancer-causing agents.

In fact, in 1975, the Centers for Disease Control released a report noting that toxic chemicals released from cigarettes stay in the air and are inhaled by unsuspecting victims. Thus, the concern over cigarette smoking shifted from a private-health issue to a public-health issue.

For pregnant women, the negative effects of cigarette smoking and second hand smoke raises even more issues. Cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke increases the chances of low birth-weight and even miscarriage. And, children less than a year old are twice as likely to have lung infections if their mothers smoke cigarettes compared to counterparts whose mothers do not smoke cigarettes. Likewise, children who already have asthma, allergies or other respiratory ailments can worsen their conditions if their parents smoke cigarettes.

Over the years some cigarette smokers have gradually quit smoking cigarettes, while non-smokers have become the focus of more protection as the government has worked on policies and legislation to curb cigarette smoking.

In the 1990s, class action suits started to bombard state and federal courts, claiming that cigarette manufacturers employed deceptive marketing tactics to keep consumers from knowing that nicotine was addictive and worked on ways keep cigarette smokers hooked on their product.

More recent suits against the cigarette and tobacco industry charge manufacturers of also misleading consumers into thinking that “lights” and similar cigarette products were healthier alternatives to regular cigarettes. These more recent cases later led to the multi-billion dollar settlement between the US government and the cigarette and tobacco industry in the late 1990s.

These lawsuits and the consistency of health lobbyists and persuasive government programs have helped pull down US cigarette smoking rates on a consistent basis over the last four decades. With the health risks of cigarette smoking so abundantly clear, it is likely that these cigarette smoking rates in the US will continue to decrease.

There are a lot of people who smoke out there who, among other reasons, are afraid to try to quit smoking cigarettes for the fear of what they think is inevitable weight gain. Almost everyone they know who has successfully quit smoking really packed on the pounds and they don’t want this to happen to them. So, does the connection between quitting cigarettes and weight gain have to do directly with the cigarettes themselves, or are there other, outside reasons why this happens so often to people who “kick the habit”?

Lets take a look at what all of the factors are that cause such weight gain in people who quit smoking and see if maybe this weight gain may be able to be controlled to where it does not have to be a factor when you decide to put the cigarettes down for good.

The fact is you do not have to gain weight when you quit smoking. There are a lot of people who quit smoking who don’t gain any weight at all. On average, people who quit smoking gain only up to 10 pounds. Studies have shown that people who have smoked for 10 to 20 years or more, or who smoked one or more packs of cigarettes a day have a higher tendency to gain weight than short time smokers and those who smoked less than one pack a day.

Nicotine, which is a chemical found in cigarettes, does to a small degree keep your body weight down. When you quit and the nicotine begins to leave your body, you may see a marginal amount of short term weight gain, but usually it will be no more than 3 to 5 pounds, mostly due to water retention.

The major reason why so many people will gain a significant amount of weight however, has more to do with replacing the smoking habit with excessive eating habits. Many will substitute sucking on hard candies all day to replace the cigarettes. Others will begin to simply snack on various foods throughout the day as a replacement for the old habit. The cigarette break at work becomes a snack break. The after lunch cigarette becomes the after lunch snack. It is this new habit, which is done almost unconsciously, that is mostly responsible for excessive weight gain when people quit smoking.

When you quit smoking, keeping aware of what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat along with some physical activity will keep that weight gain to a minimum and may keep you from gaining any weight at all. You also must consider that even if you do gain 5 to 10 pounds from quitting smoking, the risks of smoking cigarettes are far greater than a 5 to 10 pound gain in weight.

Smoking is the cause of more than 400,000 deaths every year in the United States. It would take a weight gain of over 100 pounds to equal the health risks of smoking cigarettes. Smoking causes your heart rate to increase, and you have twice the likeliness to suffer a heart attack than that of a nonsmoker.

You inhale around 4000 chemicals from cigarette smoke and 40 of these chemicals are cancer causing. Men are 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers, and women are 12 times more likely.

With a little effort on your part to keep your eating habits in check and incorporate some exercise into your daily routine, weight gain can and will be at least kept down to a minimum when you quit smoking. You will be in better health, feel better, and have a more positive outlook on life when you make the decision to put those cigarettes down for once and for all.

People who are either obese or smoking, even both are growing at a very alarming rate. While more and more people are suffering from the various diseases and complications that can be brought about by obesity and cigarette smoking, it’s still frustrating for health advocates how some people can still not care about how damaging their situation is to their health and well-being.

As for the debate on which one’s worse, smoking or being obese, there are actually doctors who suggest that it’ll do you a lot of good to just quit smoking cigarettes point blank even if they say that you may end up gaining a few pounds due to it. This is because doctors believe that the problem brought about by tobacco is actually the most preventable cause of death in the United States while obesity is just in a close second place even though deaths caused by being obese is severely alarming.

However, a lot of people in America believe that even though there are a lot of heavy people in the country, they still get to live longer compared to heavy smokers basically because they don’t have the irreversible effects that are being caused by the poisonous ingredients that one can take in due to cigarette smoking. Another point to consider when quitting smoking is that while there are also a lot of various diseases that can be brought about by excessive eating and a growing waistline, there are medicines and drugs that can help alleviate the harmful effects, thus helping obese people to get a cure for their ailments.

Matched by a good diet and enough exercise, the road to being fit and healthy is not far off for obese people while those who’ve stuck with cigarette smoking have already badly damaged their lungs and whatever damages they may have incurred from cigarette smoking is sadly, irreversible already and they have to continue to suffer the consequences – even make things worse by refusing to kick this bad habit goodbye.

Even though there are a lot of people who are obese, and even though there are possibilities that may incur some ailments or other health complications, still, a lot of people who are obese don’t really have any adverse health complications and are actually able to live pretty normal lives while those who are into cigarette smoking have already kissed a good bill of health goodbye with every cigarette that they pop in their mouth.

However, there are also some health officials that claim that obesity is actually worse than smoking cigarettes.

Why is this so? Well it’s basically just because of the fact that a lot more people love to eat rather that smoke cigarettes why is thy problem with obesity is quick to soon overtake cigarette smoking as the number cause of death in America. Aside from having poor eating habits, health officials are also deeply concerned about Americans low level of physical activity wherein in spite of hitting the gyms or taking some time out to exercise, a lot of people still not take their health seriously by opting to take cars instead of walk for just short distances, watch TV instead of go out in the park and indulge in some fun physical activity.

To put it quite simply, being obese or being addicted to cigarette smoking are both big health risks, however, obesity is still a lot easier to cure and prevent through enough exercise, discipline and a healthy diet while those who keep on smoking cigarettes have already scarred their health for life and even though they may kick this bad habit goodbye there’s only so much that they can to do to better their health while it is never too late to quit either.

Copyright 2006 Adam Waxler

Many people take risks in life. In fact, some of the wealthiest people in the world will tell you they would have never gotten anywhere if they did not take any risks. However, while some risks are worth the chance some simply are not. The health risks of cigarette smoking is one of those risks because the end result of smoking cigarettes is almost always the same.

So what are the harmful effects of cigarette smoking?

There are many harmful chemicals in cigarettes that can be broken down into four main components: irritants, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and carcinogens. When considering the health risks of cigarettes smoking, it is important to look at each of these four components.

1. Irritants
An average cigarette contains irritants like ammonia, formaldehyde and oxides. Such irritants usually cause the respiratory tract to swell.

2. Carcinogen
There are roughly 40 kinds of chemicals in cigarettes that are considered carcinogenic, meaning cancer promoting.

Lung cancer is usually related to cigarette smoking because the respiratory system of a smoker is more vulnerable. The mortality rate of lung cancer cases is very high and found to be dependent on the number of cigarette consumed.

3. Carbon Monoxide
The carbon monoxide component of a cigarette harms the circulatory system. This disables the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen to the heart.

4. Nicotine
Nicotine is the major component of the cigarette and it also poses a notorious threat to the body. Nicotine causes the act of smoking to be highly addicting. Nicotine in the body system could also result in an increased heart rate and high blood pressure.

The four harmful components of the cigarette mentioned above all contribute to the negative effects cigarette smoking has on the human body. The immediate effects of cigarette smoking may be manifested by coughing, burning of the nose and throat or dizziness. There is also the tendency of increasing the health risks of a person already suffering from illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes.

While there are claims that cigarette smoking may not directly cause the increase in high blood pressure, cigarette smoking does increase the risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack. Most doctors agree that cigarette smoking results in the body being susceptible to cardiovascular or heart diseases.

Peripheral vascular disease is also widespread among cigarette smokers. This pertains to the disease affecting the lower limbs of the person. This is due to the atherosclerosis or the narrowing of the arteries in the blood vessels of the limb. The narrowing is caused by the building up of plaque.

Studies also show that cigarette smoking is particularly risky to the female body. A woman cigarette smoker may have a more difficult time getting pregnant as a consequence of cigarette smoking. A pregnant woman who smokes cigarettes will definitely harm the baby inside her womb. Studies reveal that cigarette smoking actually increases the probability for the incidence of having a low birth weight, stillbirths, and sudden infant death syndrome. The mother also is in danger as cigarette smoking will increase the risk of having a high blood pressure or suffering a stroke.

Another health risk to cigarette smoking is passive smoking from secondhand smoke.

Passive smoking is the involuntary exposure to cigarette smoke. In this case, even a non-smoker’s health is put at risk. Breathing in fumes from another person’s cigarette (secondhand smoke) may cause the same adverse effects as it does to an ordinary smoker.

Recent studies show that those exposed to secondhand smoke, children and adults alike, have a higher risk of developing lung and other respiratory problems. Children who are constantly exposed to secondhand smoke are susceptible to colds, ear infections and breathing problems.

There are risks in life that are worth taking. However, one must recognize those risks that may cost one his or her life and clearly, one life-threatening risk includes cigarette smoking.