The OSSE Youth Advisory Committee of DC (YAC)

Many of us see people who smoke cigarettes, tobacco, etc. We do not think much about it when we see this, we just walk pass it. What many of us don’t know is how much damage any of these can cause on a human body. Tobacco alone kills more humans than car crashes, house fires and even animal attacks. Smoking harms your immune system and affects nearly every organ in your body. When you smoke, it's not only the nicotine that's dangerous, but also chemicals in tobacco like carbon monoxide, tar, formaldehyde, cyanide and ammonia-many of which are known carcinogens (cancer-causing poisons). So you are putting poison and cleaning products inside your self. If you think about it, it’s not a smart thing to do. People have their reasons, but considering the long-term effects, it is not the best way to cope with your problems or even do it at all. In the 40 years between 1964 and 2004, cigarette smoking caused an estimated 12 million deaths, including 4.1 million deaths from cancer, 5.5 million deaths from cardiovascular disease, 1.1 million deaths from respiratory disease and 94,000 infant deaths related to mothers smoking during pregnancy.

            Even after 30 years of warnings on packages, tobacco continues to impact our health. In 2010, more than 220,000 new cases of lung cancer were reported, and more than 150,000 Americans died as a direct result of the disease. The reason why everyone is hooked on smoking is because the ingredient, nicotine, is very addictive and is almost like a long lost body organ that wants to destroy your body. It is something that you want to avoid. Many smokers started when they were in their teenage years. The tobacco companies are targeting teenagers with expensive parties, events, and advertisement. Smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco are both carriers of the highly addictive drug nicotine. Although quitting can be difficult at any age, the good news is that by giving up tobacco for life, you can drastically improve your health and reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening diseases associated with tobacco use.