why you should not smoke

Tobacco is an industry, producing six trillion cigarettes a year – about 1,000 cigarettes for each person on earth. And this is what you’ll find in cigarettes:

~ Formaldehyde, which embalmer use to preserve dead bodies;
~ Toluene, which is commonly used as an ingredient in paint thinner;
~ Acetone, an active ingredient in nail polish remover;
~ Ammonia, which scientists have discovered lets you absorb more nicotine, keeping you hooked on smoking.
If you smoke, you and those around you also inhaling arsenic, benzene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide, lead, mercury and phonol. In all, 4000 harmful chemicals, including 44 types of poison, of which 43 are proven cancer-causing substances. That should be reason enough why a person should stop smoking immediately.

Bad business
Life insurance companies charge smokers nearly double the amount they charge non-smokers for term assurance. Some tobacco companies also own shares in life assurance companies. What appears to be a good deal for tobacco companies is a bad deal for taxpayers: the health care costs caused directly by smoking, and the lost economic productivity, cost governments up to three times as much as the total earnings of the tobacco industry.

Death
Smokers are ten times more likely to suffer from lung cancer than non-smokers, three times more likely to have a stroke, and twice more likely to suffer a heart attack. Carbon monoxide in cigarettes deprives the heart of oxygen. Smoking can cause headaches, infertility, blood vessel disease, digestive problems, mouth and throat cancer, and blindness.
Tobacco causes more deaths than those caused by all the wars of the past 100 years, including World Wars One and Two. More than three million people die each year as a result of smoking.
Nicotine is a drug. It is more addictive than cocaine, heroine or mandrax. Nicotine is a natural insecticide. Plants such as tomatoes produce it in their leaves to discourage bugs from eating them.

Stop smoking
After 8 hours, the carbon monoxide in your blood drops to normal.
After 48 hours, nerve endings start regrowing and the ability to smell and taste is enhanced.
After a year, the risk of heart disease drops halfway back to that of a non-smoker.
After 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker.

(Kwa hisani ya didyouknow.org)