The dangers of Cigarettes for life and health

History of Cigarettes

Cigarettes are cylinders of paper length between 70 to 120 mm (varies by country) with a diameter of about 10 mm containing tobacco leaves that have been chopped. Cigarettes are burned at one end and allowed to burn so that the smoke can be inhaled through the mouth at the other end.

Cigarettes are usually sold in parcels or paper packaging that can be easily inserted into the bag. Since the last few years, the packages are also generally accompanied by health messages that warn smokers of the health hazards that can be generated from smoking, such as lung cancer or heart attack (although in reality the message is often overlooked).

Humans in the world who smoke for the first time are Indian tribes in America, for ritual purposes such as worshiping gods or spirits. In the 16th century, when Europeans discovered the American continent, some of the European explorers tried to smoke cigarettes and brought tobacco to Europe. Then the smoking habit began to emerge among the European nobility. But unlike the Indians who smoke for ritual purposes, in Europe people smoke only for the sheer pleasure. The 17th century Spanish merchants entered Turkey and by then the smoking habit began to enter the Islamic countries.

According to research 51.1% of Indonesian people are active smokers, the highest in ASEAN and very much different from neighboring countries, for example: Brunei Darusallam 0.06% and Cambodia 1.15%. In 2013, 43.8% of smokers came from the weak category = 37.7%, smokers from elementary, junior high, high school, farmers, fishermen and laborers accounted for 44.5% of active smokers. 33.4% of active smokers are aged between 30 to 34 years. The good is only 1.1% of Indonesian women are active smokers, although surely passive smokers will be more.

There has been much research that proves that cigarettes are very dependent, in addition to causing many types of cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, adverse effects on birth, and emphysema

Why Cigarettes are Dangerous to Health?

Then why cigarettes can be so dangerous? The answer is that cigarettes contain harmful substances and cause serious health problems for active smokers and for passive smokers will be very dangerous by inhaling the smoke coming out of the users of cigarettes, even more dangerous impacts obtained than on active smokers.
Cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals of which 69 are carcinogenic (cancer-causing).

1.Nicotine
Cigarettes contain a very high amount of nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive / addictive substance that makes smokers addicted and difficult to stop.
Nicotine has a detrimental effect on health: increasing blood pressure and heart rate, triggering heart attacks and strokes, causing damage to brain tissue, and hardening of the heart arteries.

2.Tar
Tar is a solid particle that arises when the cigarette is burned. This particle will enter and settle in the body, in a long time it will form a brown and sticky residue. This is why the teeth of smokers are brownish yellow.
Residue or tar that settles in the lungs of smokers that will lead to the occurrence of spots, mucus or dirt that result in the clogging of the lung wall of humans. Tar is also carcinogenic / causes various cancers.

3.Ammonia
The content of ammonia in cigarettes causes nicotine to be more addictive. When ammonia reacts with nicotine, it converts nicotine into gas, allowing nicotine to be absorbed by the lungs, respiratory tract, and bloodstream.

4.Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide is a gas produced from incomplete combustion. 5% of cigarette smoke is carbon monoxide capable of binding to hemoglobin, causing the body to lack oxygen. This is what causes a smoker to feel weak and not fit. Example of carbon monoxide in everyday life is car smoke pollution.

5.Arsenic
Arsenic is a heavy metal found in tobacco smoke that can poison the blood easily, damage the blood vessels, heart, reduce the ability of cells to renew themselves, and cause cancer. In the short term arsenic causes bad breath, excessive dryness, and nervous disorders. In other places Arsenic is usually used as raw material of animal toxins

6.Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical substance found in batteries and also your tobacco smoke. This substance will enter the body along with cigarette smoke is sucked and will settle in the kidney layer that result in kidney damage. Cadmium is used as raw material for batteries.

7.Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is commonly used to preserve corpses. In cigarette smoke, this substance makes people around smokers become coughing and make the pain in the eyes. It is carcinogenic and causes nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia.

8.In addition to the above content are still thousands of other toxic substances contained in cigarettes and cigarette smoke that can be bad for health. For example:

1 Acetone, paint raw materials
2 Acetylene, lighter raw materials or matches
3 Benzene or Bensol, used as fuel
4 DDT, the raw material of insect poison
5 Hydrogen Cyanide, a plastic raw material an insect poison
6 Methanol, wood alcohol or methyl alcohol are used as fuel for spacecraft, rocket planes
7 Phenol, cleanser and disinfectant for toilet