SMOKING PREVENTION

Tobacco smoke contains more than four thousand chemical substances most out of which are poison. Cigarette smoke contains more than four thousand tiny substances, most of which are harmful for human health.

Tar is usually defined as the weight of particulate matter collected after water and nicotine are subtracted. Tar is a complex mixture of substances, which includes substances which in sufficient quantities are thought capable of initiating and promoting cancer.

Nicotine is another constituent of tobacco smoke that occurs naturally in the tobacco plant. It can also be found in some other plants, but at much lower quantity. Nicotine has unusual pharmacological properties; it has both a mild stimulant effect, though less than that of caffeine, and a mild relaxing effect. At high levels, far higher than in the smoke from a cigarette, nicotine is toxic. Many public health authorities believe nicotine is responsible for causing an addiction to smoking through its pharmacological effects.

Carbon monoxide is a gas formed when plant materials burn. It can combine with hemoglobin in blood, reducing the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen. Carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke is thought to be associated with the increased risk of heart disease from smoking.

Tobacco is grown in more than 120 countries out of which China is included with 33.5% of total world production.

More than 1.1 billion people smoke in the world, out of which 800 million live in the developing countries. Smoking is the leading reason of premature deaths in developed countries. Approximation is that 10 million people will be dying as a result of smoking by 2020, out of which 70% from developed countries.

At the time being, one out of five death causes is connected with smoking and a half of long life smokers dye from the diseases caused by cigarette smoke. In average, life long smokers loose 20 years of their life. American tobacco industry makes production worth 50 billion USD. 5 American industrialists had the income of 6 billion USD from tobacco business. Smoking expenses in America, including lost years of life, medical expenses and missed opportunity costs equals around 68 billion USD.