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Position Paper

Tobacco smoking is a major global health problem and is spreading in developing countries. Smoking tobacco is highly addictive due to nicotine. It causes many diseases and health issues for both smokers and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke. While efforts are being made to reduce smoking, such as laws and education, tobacco remains a serious threat and menace to human health worldwide.

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732 views5 pages

Position Paper

Tobacco smoking is a major global health problem and is spreading in developing countries. Smoking tobacco is highly addictive due to nicotine. It causes many diseases and health issues for both smokers and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke. While efforts are being made to reduce smoking, such as laws and education, tobacco remains a serious threat and menace to human health worldwide.

Uploaded by

julianne tan
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Saint Francis College

Pascual B. Gutay St., Sabang II


Allen, Northern Samar

Joanna Isabel A. Marasigan


Grade 12 – STEM B – St. Felix of Cantalice

TOBACCO: THE SILENT KILLER

Smoking is a common habit, a behavior, and a choice. It is one of the major


hazards to present and future global health and is currently spreading quickly all
throughout the developing countries. Smoking is the act of inhaling harmful materials
into our body, and these harmful materials are called tobacco. Youth tobacco use is
an epidemic around the world. The majority of deaths that could have been
prevented worldwide are caused by cigarettes, which are mostly made of tobacco
with significant amounts of additional additives. Undoubtedly, because of the
presence of nicotine, a powerful and highly addictive substance, smoking tobacco
becomes so obsessive or uncontrollable that all those who have started using it have
a hard time ending that habit without thinking of its harmful effects and unwanted
consequences.

Tobacco Smoking: A Menace to Human Health

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the tobacco epidemic is


one of the world's most serious public health risks. In addition, research shows that
tobacco consumption among adults in the Philippines is at 17.3 million (or 28%).
Smoking is more prevalent among men (48%) than among women (9%). 40% of
adults and 55% of children (ages 13 to 15) live in homes with smoking exposure.
Tobacco smoking is not indeed a new phenomenon. For decades, we have been
aware of the consequences of smoking, yet it remains one of the world’s greatest
problems and the leading causes of disability, morbidity, and mortality.

However, despite the global attention towards tobacco smoking, the impact is
still being felt due to its severe long-term consequences. Smoking is increasing
gradually and causing a serious impact on human health. It has a harmful and long-
term effect on smokers and potentially has the ability to affect nonsmokers too.

Smoking can be considered as one of the greatest risk factors in the


incidence of different diseases. Smokers frequently experience a variety of health
issues that are brought on by tobacco consumption. Numerous chemicals found in
cigarettes can cause harmful DNA alterations that lead to the development of
cancer.

The moment that the smoker smokes a cigarette, the toxic or poisonous
gases begin passing into their lungs, then into their bloodstream. Some of the
harmful or adverse effects of tobacco smoking on smokers include hypertension,
breathing problems, strokes, diabetes, heart diseases, heart attack, damaged
eyesight and being more likely to develop cataracts, weakened bones, making it
difficult for women to get pregnant, can cause erectile dysfunction in men, lung
cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer, nose cancer, or worse, death.

Although the severity of these effects would depend on some conditions,


which include the number of cigarette sticks consumed, the type of cigarette, and the
period of time a person smoke. Tobacco or cigarette use can also affect non-
smokers. The secondhand smoke, which is the combination of the smoke exhaled
from the lungs of the smokers and from burning of cigarette. Secondhand smoke can
cause significant cases of death compared to non-smokers. This incident can also
cause a wide range of effects, such as cancer, respiratory and heart diseases.

So, what will be the future holds, if smoking tobacco cannot be unfold?

Around the world, people and governments are making efforts to combat
smoking tobacco. For instance, prohibition or refraining from doing such activities
has become common, yet no one follows such regulations. Governments can,
should, and must combat tobacco smoking by passing or implementing laws that
limit the amount and usage of cigarettes.
Despite the difficulty of eradicating the problem of tobacco smoking, a
successful solution could be envisaged as a tight collaboration of authorities, bodies,
and doctors to regularize the situation. Governments should spread sufficient
information and educate people, and should involve professionals in these issues so
as to control the emergence of the problem successfully.

As a supplement to the effective management of the negative health impacts


associated with smoking, a global prevention strategy should be developed to
prevent such a phenomenon. To effectively address the issue, sustainable
development approaches should be used in combination with research-based
knowledge.

Having all these said, yes, tobacco, as a matter of fact, is a menace to human
health. So, we must act right; we must act now, because smoking thrills, but it also
kills.
REFERENCES

B. Bellew., M. Antonio., M. Limpin., L. Alzona., F. Trinidad., U. Dorotheo., R.


Yapchiongco., R. Garcia., A. Anden., J. Aliday. 2013 Jun 21. Addressing the
tobacco epidemic in the Philippines: progress since ratification of the WHO
FCTC. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463107/

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office
on Smoking and Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of
Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (US); 2014.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/

Philippines Department of Health. National Tobacco Control Strategy (2011–2016)


Manila, Philippines: DOH; 2012.
http://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/National%20Tobacco%20Control
%20Strategy%20(NTCS).pdf Accessed June 2013

World Health Organization. WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic: country
profile, Philippines. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2011.
http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/phl.pdf Accessed
April 2013.
CITATION

B. Bellew., M. Antonio., M. Limpin., L. Alzona., F. Trinidad., U. Dorotheo., R.


Yapchiongco., R. Garcia., A. Anden., J. Aliday. 2013 Jun 21. Addressing the
tobacco epidemic in the Philippines: progress since ratification of the WHO
FCTC. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463107/

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office
on Smoking and Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of
Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (US); 2014.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/

Philippines Department of Health. National Tobacco Control Strategy (2011–2016)


Manila, Philippines: DOH; 2012.
http://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/National%20Tobacco%20Control
%20Strategy%20(NTCS).pdf Accessed June 2013

World Health Organization. WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic: country
profile, Philippines. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2011.
http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/phl.pdf Accessed
April 2013.

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