“Each day, more than 3,200 people under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette and 2,100 youth become daily smokers.” as found from “Tobacco Facts and Figures.” Tobacco is affecting people in too many harmful ways that need to be stopped. People need to stop smoking and harming themselves and others. There are many causes, harms, effects after quitting, and solutions to smoking tobacco.

First off, the causes of smoking tobacco. Adults are the leading causes of smoking tobacco. In 2014 adults ages 25-44 were largest age group of smokers at 20.0%. The next age group 45-64 at 18% and 18-24 were at 16.7%. After a survey found from the CDC people below the poverty line smoke more. It was found in 2014 that people in the midwest smoke more than the rest of the United States according to “Current Smoking Among Adults 2014” cdc.gov. Parents are not only smoking but teaching kids that it is okay to smoke. Children look up to their parents and when they see them smoking, they think that when they’re older it will be okay. Parents will tell their kids not to smoke but how is that helping if the adult still smokes? Adults are causing harm to themselves and children.
Second, are the harms of smoking. Lung cancer is one of the biggest problems in smokers. Not only smokers are at risk, but so are people who are affected by secondhand smoke. Doctors believe that smoking causes the cells in your lungs get damaged. Every time a person inhales cigarette smoke which is filled with cancer causing substances, the lung tissue begins to change immediately. At first, your body may be able to repair this damage but with repetition, your body won’t be able to. Doctors have classified two types of lung cancer, small cell and non-small cell. “Small cell lung cancer occurs in almost exclusively heavy smokers and is less common than non-small cell lung cancer.” The other type is non-small cell lung cancer. “Non-small cell lung cancer is an umbrella term for several types of lung cancers that behave in a similar way.” This information was found from “Lung Cancer” By the Mayo Staff mayoclinic.org. Cancer is a big risk of smoking and needs to be put to an end.
There are many other harms of smoking other than cancer such as diabetes, second hand smoke, and the chemicals in cigarettes. Smoking can cause type 2 diabetes. The CDC found that smokers are 30-40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. It was also found that smokers have a hard time controlling the disease and trouble with insulin dosing. Some of the health problems include kidney and heart disease, poor blood flow, eye diseases, and nerve damage in the arms and legs found from the CDC “Smoking and Diabetes” cdc.gov.
Second hand smoke is another major problem. Second hand smoke is smoke being inhaled involuntarily from cigarettes being smoked by others. Found from “Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke” from the American Lung Association, there are 41,000 deaths per year just because of second hand smoke. These deaths are because of lung cancer and heart disease. Even short term exposure can increase the risk or even cause a heart attack. Secondhand smoke is the most dangerous  children. Up to 300,000 cases of respiratory tract infections are due to secondhand smoke in children. Not only respiratory tract infections can be caused by the smoke, but so can asthma. Asthma flare ups happen all the time when smoke is ingested. Secondhand smoke is a major problem in children.

There are many harmful chemicals in cigarettes that can cause all of these harms to a person. One of the main ingredients that make cigarettes so addictive is nicotine. Nicotine isn’t cancer causing but the drug acts so fast, it can reach your brain in 15 seconds. Nicotine is the reason that people find it hard to quit smoking. If they didn’t put this ingredient in cigarettes, the number of smokers would take a huge drop.

There are around 70 cancer causing chemical found in cigarettes. Some of these cancer causing chemicals are benzene, formaldehyde, pesticides, and vinyl chloride. Benzene is found in pesticides and gasoline. Formaldehyde is a chemical used to preserve dead bodies. Pesticides are used in our lawns and gardens and vinyl chloride is a manmade chemical used to make plastics. Some of the poisons found in cigarettes ammonia and carbon monoxide. Ammonia is a compound found in cleaning products and fertilizers, not only is it found in these things but it also boosts the impact of nicotine. Carbon monoxide is in car exhaust and found in large amount of cigarettes. These are just a few of the chemicals found in cigarettes found from “Harmful Chemicals in Cigarettes” by Terry Martin April 18, 2016

There are lots of good effects after a person quits smoking. After a few hours your blood pressure and heart rate return to normal. A few hours after that, carbon monoxide levels decrease and circulation becomes stronger. After a few months your lung function will become stronger and it may be easier to breath. After a few years, your risk of cancer and other diseases become “smaller. As you can see, quitting smoking has lots of benefits. There are withdrawal symptoms, but those will go away after awhile. You just have to push through and make a good outcome.

Nicotine replacement therapy, avoiding triggers, distracting yourself, and doing something instead of smoking are the many solutions to quit smoking. You can use nicotine replacement such as patches instead of smoking. Nicotine isn’t harmful it is just the addictive substance in the cigarette. If a person avoids triggers, such as not going near someone who is smoking, it will benefit that person. No one would want to smoke and relapse if they quit smoking. There are many distractions you could use instead of smoking. If you ever want a cigarette, you could chew gum, go on a run, or maybe watch a T.V. show. This could prevent a person from smoking another cigarette.
As you can see, there are many causes, harms, effects after quitting, and solutions of smoking and quitting. We should stop teenagers from smoking their first cigarette and help them not become daily smokers.Too many people are harming themselves and others just because they smoke. If people do not start using these solutions, we will have a world full of people with incurable diseases. It is not worth putting those chemicals in your body just for a negative outcome.