524 Words Essay on Smoking

Smoking can be better explained as a practice where smoke is inhaled by burning tobacco. This is not something new for the human civilization as from the very beginning of life on this earth tobacco has been used in some form or the other. Smoking is the most common method of consuming tobacco and same is the case with tobacco as it is the most common substance smoked.

As per a worldwide survey in the year 2000 nearly 1.22 billion people were found to be smokers. In all, more of men were found to be smokers then women. It was found that in America smoking had its origin from the incense-burning ceremonies and later on it was adopted for pleasure in social gatherings. The people at that time believed that tobacco was a gift from God or creator and that the smoke exhaled is capable of communicating one’s prayer to the almighty.

Besides smoking, tobacco is also used for preparing medicines. Tobacco is used for making pain killers. Certain tribes living in India believed that tobacco can be used as an effective medicine for fighting cold, tooth and ear aches.

Smoking is a kind of guilty pleasure. Religious authorities have always degraded the smoking practices. This is even evident as any kind of smoking is prohibited in religious places. But those who smoke are little affected by such restrictions. Smoking once started as a pleasure soon turns into an addiction. Quitting smoking is really a hard task that covets self motivation and zeal.

Germany was the first country where people formed associations and carried out demonstrations against the harmful effects of smoking. In the year 1929, Fritz Lickint of Dresden, Germany, published a report containing formal evidence of a lung cancer-tobacco link. There was a general assumption in the society that women who smoke are misfit as a home maker.

As per another survey in the United States, smoking declined from 42% to 20.8%. A majority of the people who quit smoking were professional and affluent men. Although, the number of smokers decreased but the average number of cigarettes consumed per person per day increased from 22 to 30 in the year 1978. As per a study, in the year 2002, tobacco consumption is rising at the rate of 3.4% which is very alarming.

In Africa, smoking is considered as a sign of modernization and the opinion of the west regarding ill effects of smoking receives much less attention. Today, Russia leads as the top consumer of tobacco followed by China, Greece and Ukraine.

As per the report of World Health Organization tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in the year 2004 and about 100 million deaths over the course of the 20^th century. Passive smoking or second hand smoking is equally harmful and about six hundred thousand deaths were caused by passive smoking.

Recently, the WHO held a convention on Tobacco control and a public policy was also framed. Many government authorities all over the world have implemented the law banning smoking in public places. This is a significant and considerable step towards the eradication of smoking as an evil habit from the society.