Cassondra Bailey

11/2/2020

Professor Hozey

ENG204

Smoking

Smoking has a great impact on the entire household. If one person is a smoker in

the household, everyone in the home is impacted. It has been proven time and time

again that smoking is bad for your health, and yet, there are still many people out there

who will argue that smoking has a positive impact on one’s health, as well as their

family’s health. The pandemic of smoking has an impact on everyone, whether they

notice it or not. Secondhand smoke is a hidden issue that can not be seen with the bare

eye, but that is hurting people worldwide. Many people believe that smoking has

benefits that are worth the risk brought on by smoking. They believe that smokers

should not quit smoking. They argue that smoking is beneficial to your overall health

and wellbeing, including a reduced risk of some forms of dementia. They also argue that

smoking reduces stress in various ways. While there have been some small studies to

support these arguments, there is still an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence to

support the contrary. Smokers should quit smoking because quitting will greatly

decrease one’s own risk of several different health issues, it will decrease anxiety and

depression, and it will put one’s children at a much lower risk for various health issues.

Many people argue that smokers should continue smoking because it is good for

your health. They do acknowledge that smoking is bad for you in some ways, but they
then turn it around to argue that there are more pros than cons. In an article by

Christopher Wanjek called “5 Benefits of Smoking”, he explains how there are

unexplained phenomenon in the world related to health and smoking. He says that

smoking, "lowers risk of knee-replacement surgery, lowers risk of Parkinson's disease,

lowers risk of obesity, lowers risk of death after some heart attacks, and helps the heart

drug clopidogrel work better."1 While these are all good points, they are very small

benefits, especially when compared to the dangers of smoking. Things like slightly

improving the function of one singular chemical in the heart seems miniscule when

compared to the threat of cancer and sudden heart attacks and death. Also, these

benefits are not direct impacts of smoking. For example, a lower risk of obesity is not

caused by smoking. It is caused by the reduced appetite that smoking causes. The

lower risk of death after some heart attacks is partially because these heart attacks

occur at a younger age in smokers. Having a heart attack ten years sooner than the

non-smoker puts them at somewhat of an advantage, because they are now much

younger in their recovery. They are more resilient, putting them at a lower risk of death.

Another way to stay healthy – other than having a heart attack early on in life to boost

the chances of survival – is to avoid heart attacks all together. Continuing to smoke

greatly increases one’s chances of a heart attack, especially earlier on in life.

Another article, “Health ‘Benefits’ of Smoking?” follows this point by continuing to

argue that smoking reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, “An analysis of

longitudinal studies found a protective effect against Parkinson's disease for current and

Christopher Wanjek, “5 Health Benefits of Smoking”, Live Science, July 19,

1

2011, https://www.livescience.com/15115-5-health-benefits-smoking-disease.html .
former smokers compared with those who had never smoked.” 2 Again, there are far

more risks than rewards, and the rewards are not guaranteed.

Another side of their argument is that smoking can lower the risk of some forms

of dementia. In an article by Ian Sample called “Smoking is Good for You,” he explains

that smoking boosts the number of chemical receptors in the brain that are responsible

for preventing various forms of dementia. 3 The best way to boost the amount of these

chemicals in your brain is to smoke cigarettes. While this is a very important factor to

consider, later in the argument, he turns around and says, "but the problem is that the

other stuff in the cigarette tends to rot everything else." So, while there is a small

decrease in the risk of dementia, there is a large increase in the risk of a lot of other

health issues. This refutes the argument that the pros outweigh the cons. There are so

many different parts of the brain that are essential to have a sane, healthy life. If

smoking rots most of the rest of the brain, then this supports the argument that smokers

should quit smoking. These arguments have a lot of scientific evidence against them,

and very little evidence to support them.

Overall, quitting smoking greatly decreases one’s own risk of several different

health issues. This is a main reason why smokers should quit smoking. In a

presentation by Barry Oches, Lesli Johnson, Regina Warfel, and Jennifer Collins called

Supporting Smoke Free Families in Southeastern Ohio, there is a flow chart explaining

all the different improvements in the body that are made over time once one quits
2
Greenhalgh B. Bellew and Winstanley, “Health ‘Benefits’ of Smoking,” Tobacco in
Australia, March 2015, https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-3-health-effects/3-28-
health-benefits-of-smoking-.
3
Ian Sample, “Smoking is Good for You”, The Guardian, August 7, 2003,
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/aug/07/shopping.health .
smoking. Things that are listed are all positive: blood pressure and heart rate return to

normal, O2 level returns to normal, nicotine and CO levels reduced by half, CO is

eliminated from the body, lungs begin to eliminate mucus and debris, nicotine is

eliminated from the body, taste and smell improve, breathing is easier, bronchial tubes

relax, energy levels increase, circulation improves, lung function increases by up to

10%, breathing problems reduced, heart attack risk is cut in half, lung cancer risk is cut

in half, and, eventually, heart attack risk becomes the same as for someone who has

never smoked.4 These are all different kinds of health benefits that are produced when

someone quits smoking, and this is just for themselves, let alone the rest of their

household, that has now been removed from the secondhand smoke in the air. All these

health benefits support the argument that smokers are better off quitting than

continuing.

Furthermore, an article by the UCSF (University of California, San Francisco)

World Health Organization called “Advisory note: Waterpipe tobacco smoking: health

effects, research needs and recommended actions for regulators (2nd edition)” they

speak on the effects of waterpipe smoking. Waterpipe smoking is a very popular form of

smoking outside of the traditional cigarette. They explain that, "Numerous carcinogens

and toxicants have been identified, such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines, polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (e.g. benzo[a]pyrene, anthracene), volatile aldehydes

(e.g. formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein), benzene, nitric oxide and heavy metals

(arsenic, chromium, lead)." Later in the article the dangers of this are explained, "Some

4
Barry Oches et al, Supporting Smoke Free Families in Southeastern Ohio, Ohio
Partners for Smoke Free Families, 2008, http://www.smokefreeseohio.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/SmokeFreeFamiliesProjectOverview.pdf .
of these chemicals are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer

(IARC) as human carcinogens."5 This means that, a lot of the time, when humans are

exposed to these chemicals, they develop into cancer. This can be many kinds of

cancer, but, because these chemicals are typically ingested in through the lungs, they

are the first organ exposed to these harmful chemicals. Because of this, lung cancer is

a very common result of waterpipe smoking. Lung cancer is a very difficult thing to

experience, as it impairs the ability to breathe. There is a constant struggle for each

breath, and it greatly decreases the quality of life of an individual.

Some people may argue that smokers tend to be calmer and more level-headed

than non-smokers. They describe it as a kind of Zen way of life, and James Dunworth

tried to prove it in a journal called Smoking is Good for You: Here’s Why. He talks about

an experiment run by a man named Norman Heimstra, where he, “hired smokers and

non-smokers to carry out tasks for 6 hours WITHOUT PAUSE. The non-smokers

became angry, frustrated, and aggressive – but the smokers remained calm." 6 This

should show that smokers tend to stay calmer during frustrating activities than non-

smokers, but I argue that smoking has the opposite effect. This calamity wears off once

one becomes addicted to nicotine. Once someone is addicted, they cannot survive

without it. They begin to need it more and more frequently, and when they do not have

access to it, they become very stressed and anxious. This "calamity" is not natural or

5
UCSF World Health Organization, Advisory note: Waterpipe tobacco smoking:
health effects, research needs and recommended actions for regulators (2nd edition),
World Health Organization, (2015),
https://escholarship.org/content/qt9mn3k2fq/qt9mn3k2fq.pdf .
6
James Dunworth, Smoking is Good for You: Here's Why, E-cigarette Direct,
https://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ashtray-blog/2012/03/smoking-is-good-for-you.html .
genuine, it is artificial and temporary. My point is that smoking increases anxiety and

causes depression.

To expand on this point, Holly E.R. Morrell and Lee M. Cohen wrote an article

called “Cigarette Smoking, Anxiety, and Depression,” where they talk about the

relationship between both smoking and anxiety and smoking and depression. They

explain that, especially during withdrawal when trying to quit smoking, anxiety levels can

skyrocket. Your body is panicking because it is being stripped of something that it has

been reliant on for an extended time. It is now addicted to nicotine, and this sudden

cutoff of supply causes your body to go into a state of hyper-anxiety. Even still, they say

that depression is the more intense result, "Evidence regarding the comorbidity between

smoking and MDD [Major Depressive Order] is generally stronger and more consistent

than the evidence regarding the comorbidity between smoking and anxiety." Depression

is present even before the withdrawal occurs. They state that many current smokers are

depressed, "Breslau et al. (1991) found that 39% of young adult smokers with

moderate levels of nicotine dependence qualified for a diagnosis of comorbid MDD, as

compared to 19.2% of mildly dependent smokers and 10.1% of non-dependent

smokers."7 As the reliance on smoking goes down, so does the depression and anxiety.

Furthermore, in an article by Supporting Smoke Free Families in Southeastern

Ohio, they mention that 72 hours after you quit smoking, energy levels increase. This

increased energy level helps to reduce stress because it allows one to get more things
7
Holly E. R. Morrell and Lee M. Cohen, Cigarette Smoking, Anxiety, and
Depression,   Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 2006,
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Holly_Morrell/publication/226132928_Cigarette_S
moking_Anxiety_and_Depression/links/0f31753cd41859c901000000/Cigarette-
Smoking-Anxiety-and-Depression.pdf.
done in the same span of time. If someone gets more done throughout the day, they will

not be as stressed, because more things will have been checked off their to-do list. This

is another example of how quitting smoking has a positive impact on one’s stress levels,

as well as their likelihood for becoming depressed. This includes both cigarettes and

another popular form of smoking, called waterpipe smoking. It is very popular, and

widely misinterpreted as being healthy for you, especially compared to cigarettes.

In an article by the UCSF World Health Organization called “Advisory note:

Waterpipe tobacco smoking: health effects, research needs and recommended actions

for regulators (2nd edition,)” they explain the downfalls of waterpipe smoking,

“Waterpipe smoking also appears to impair lung function and exercise capacity and to

elicit changes in inflammation biomarkers." 8 It has been proven several times that

exercise is good for your physical, mental, and emotional health. Without such a

capacity to exercise, it takes away an opportunity to boost your mood. Not all impacts of

smoking are 100% direct. There are many indirect impacts of smoking that cannot quite

be put into statistics. In these times, we need as much positive as we can get. Smoking

takes away one of the big ways that we can improve our mood by keeping us from

being able to exercise. My point is that smoking has a lot more cons than pros, and

these downfalls impact both the first and secondhand smoker.

If someone quits smoking, it puts their children at lower risk for various health

issues. In the presentation by Barry Oches et al, they spend a lot of time talking about

the effect that secondhand smoke has on children in all different phases of life. If a

parent is smoking in a home, it increases the child's chance of developing problems

8
UCSF World Health Organization.
such as SIDs Bronchiolitis, Meningitis, asthma, ear infections, and fire related injuries. If

the parental smoking continues into adolescence, then the probability of the teenager

beginning to smoke themselves is much higher than that in a home where there is no

smoking. Eventually, this carries over to adulthood where it will develop into cancer,

cardiovascular disease, and COPD. If the daughter decides to become pregnant and is

still smoking during the pregnancy, then there may be issues of low birth weight,

neurological problems, and even the possibility of a stillbirth. 9 This is more than enough

scientific evidence to prove that secondhand smoking is a great danger to children.

Furthermore, in the advisory note by the World Health Organization, they explain

that, "Second-hand smoke emitted directly from waterpipes into the surrounding

atmosphere also contains toxicants, as shown in controlled laboratory test chambers

and by measurement of airborne particulate matter in settings where waterpipes are

used."10 This secondhand danger is present to the children in the home. The dangers of

airborne diseases are immense, putting several children in grave danger of contracting

diseases from one’s actions.

In the end, there is an overwhelming amount of scientific data to prove that there

are immense dangers that come with smoking. These dangers apply to the smoker and

the smoker’s family, including their children. While there are some small things that may

improve if someone smokes, like their slightly decreased chances of getting dementia in

the far future, there are far more risks to consider.

9
Barry Oches, et al.
10
UCSF World Health Organization.
 WORKS CITED

Bellew, Greenhalgh B. and Winstanley. “Health ‘Benefits’ of Smoking” Tobacco in

Australia, March 2015. https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-3-health-
effects/3-28-health-benefits-of-smoking-.
Dunworth, James. Smoking is Good for You: Here's Why. E-cigarette Direct.
https://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ashtray-blog/2012/03/smoking-is-good-for-
you.html

Morrell, Holly E. R., and Lee M. Cohen. Cigarette Smoking, Anxiety, and Depression.
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, December 2006.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Holly_Morrell/publication/226132928_Cigare
tte_Smoking_Anxiety_and_Depression/links/0f31753cd41859c901000000/Cigare
tte-Smoking-Anxiety-and-Depression.pdf.

Oches, Barry, Lesli Johnson, Regina Warfel, and Jennifer Collins. Supporting Smoke
Free Families in Southeastern Ohio. Ohio Partners for Smoke Free Families,
2008. http://www.smokefreeseohio.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/SmokeFreeFamiliesProjectOverview.pdf.

Sample, Ian. Smoking is Good for You. The Guardian, August 7, 2003.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/aug/07/shopping.health.

Supporting Smoke Free Families in Southeastern Ohio. Ohio Partners for Smoke Free
Families. http://www.smokefreeseohio.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/SmokeFreeFamiliesProjectOverview.pdf

UCSF World Health Organization. Advisory note: Waterpipe tobacco smoking: health
effects, research needs and recommended actions for regulators (2nd edition).
World Health Organization, 2015.
https://escholarship.org/content/qt9mn3k2fq/qt9mn3k2fq.pdf.

Wanjek, Christopher. “5 Health Benefits of Smoking.” Live Science, July 19, 2011.
https://www.livescience.com/15115-5-health-benefits-smoking-disease.html.