De Carli
1
Mikayla De Carli, WR121, MHCC
14 November, 2016
Word Count:1510
Essay 3
Smoking
Cigarettes set the standard for their addicting and cancer-causing chemicals, yet millions
of people choose to smoke them every day. More than 3,200 children under 18 elect to smoke
their first cigarette every day and an estimated 700 children will become daily smokers (FDA,
Youth and Tobacco). These children are damaging their body at a young age, and it could be life
threatening. If these children continue to smoke for forty years, they will have irreversible
damage done to their lungs as well as their gums and other internal organs. While many adults
smoke cigarettes to relax, the relaxation doesn’t last for long. Cigarettes cause over half a million
deaths each year and are polluting the environment. Cigarettes should be outlawed due to the
harmful and dangerous effects on the society.
The world around us is slowly dying, and the environment is significantly impacted by
the adverse impact of cigarettes. Every year more than fifty-six percent of residential fires are
started by lit cigarettes (Tawadrous, Cigarette Fires). More than 900 people in the United States
die each year in fires started by cigarettes, and about 2,500 people are injured (Cigwaste,
Environmental Impact). Not only is the land dying, but the oceans and the air are dying as well.
When cigarettes are not disposed of properly they can wash away into rivers, streams, and
oceans poisoning almost every organism nearby. “Research conducted by the U.S. National
De Carli
2
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that cigarette debris is responsible for killing
at least one million seabirds and 100,000 mammals annually.”(Stockton, Cigarette Pollution).
Most cigarettes are not biodegradable and have many harmful chemicals in them. These
chemicals include arsenic, acetone, ammonia, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, and
toluene. These chemicals are all released into the air when smoking a cigarette and the living
plants around engulf these fumes and slowly die. Air pollution is one of the biggest problems in
the world, and it’s not getting any better. Cigarettes are an issue in the pollution crisis. Killing
plants with this deadly smoke harms more than it seems. However, cigarette companies are now
starting to come out with new, biodegradable cigarette filters that bloom into flowers when
watered on the ground. These filters are a nice alternative and if outlawing cigarettes is not an
available solution, then the “Green Butts” should be in every cigarette. When a cigarette butt is
thrown on the ground a nice flower will bloom instead of an unpleasant filter that pollutes and
does not decompose (GB, Better Butts). These filters would decrease the water and land
pollution significantly and would create a better environment. However, these filters do not
change the impact that cigarette smoke has on the air, “A 2004 study conducted by researchers at
Italy’s National Cancer Institute compared the output of three lit cigarettes and a diesel engine.1
After 30 minutes of continuous exposure in a controlled garage, the scientists found that the
cigarettes released ten times the particulate matter of the engine (Yale).” While diesel engines
and the pollutants that the cars produce have a huge impact on the pollution crisis, cigarettes are
found to be more harmful. There are simple solutions to cigarette smoke like a smoke buddy; a
smoke buddy is a small concealable box that can be carried around and a smoker is able to blow
the smoke inside the box. While the smoke is blown into the box, it is filtered through a small
De Carli
3
multilayered filter that eliminates the odor and also the smoke (Smoke Buddy). But, both of
these filters do not change the health effects that are caused by cigarettes.
The destroying impact that cigarettes have on a human’s life is catastrophic. There are
more than 7,000 chemicals in cigarettes and out of those 7,000 at least 250 are harmful. And
within those 250 chemicals there are at least 69 known cancer-causing chemicals (NCI, Smoking
Diseases). In America, more than 16 million people suffer from a disease caused by smoking
(CDC, Adult Smoking). When the toxic chemicals of cigarettes are inhaled, every organ in the
human body is affected. These chemicals can also cause diseases to spread throughout the body.
“Smoking is estimated to increase the risk for coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times, stroke by 2
to 4 times, of men developing lung cancer by 25 times and of women developing lung cancer by
