A study showed that most smokers start during adolescence or early adulthood. In 2002, around 20% young teens, aged 13 to 15, smoked worldwide. 80,000 to 100,000 children begin smoking everyday, with half of them projected to smoke for 15 to 20 years.One factor that entices people to smoke is the glamour that smoking emanates. In films, smoking women were associated with glamour, sensuality, and sophistication. With men, smoking symbolized mystery and distinction.

By the time smokers get to know about the ill-effects of smoking, they have become so addicted to nicotine that most of them just can’t stop. Will you trade glamour, sensuality, sophistication, and mystery to the diseases that smoking can cause?

Exposure to carbon monoxide and cyanide causes emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. And smoking 20 cigarettes a day increases the risk of acquiring tuberculosis by 2 to 4 times.

In the United States, 87% of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. Studies show that people who smoked at some point in their lives have a 1 in 10 chance of developing lung cancer. People who continue smoking increase their risk to 1 in 6. Passive smokers have a 20 to 30% risk of developing lung cancer.

Smoking leads to narrowing of the blood vessels, which increases the risk of blockage. This increases the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and atherosclerosis. Smokers below 40 years old are 5 times more likely to have a heart attack. Passive smokers have an increased risk of 25 to 30% in developing heart disease.

A smoker’s life expectancy is reduced by 2.5 to 10 years. And each puff of a cigarette is equal to losing 11 minutes of your life!

Come to think of it, none of these situations shows glamour, sensuality, sophistication, or mystery. All they show is death related to smoking. Quit now! Stop pretending that smoking means glamour. It is not and it will never be!

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