There is no harm in smoking. Who says tobacco causes cancer? Nearly 267 million adults means 29% of all adults (aged 15 and above) are users of tobacco in India, do you mean that all of them have cancer…?

Since we are in the modern world, we have a lot of works to do. Too much work gives you too much stress. So what should we do? So your friends suggested you to smoke. “Come on man what harm would one, three inches long and few millimeters wide tobacco stick can do to you, chill its cool. What kind of man you are, if you don’t smoke.” Those who smoke or used to smoke can relate to these lines.

Well, the hard facts are totally different from what people who use cigarettes or any other form of tobacco like to believe.

The nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive. It makes your brain release a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is a ‘feel good’ chemical that makes you feel happy, helps you to concentrate and gives you more energy and all of these for a small period of time but creates  side-effects permanently.

Well who doesn’t want happiness? So your body starts craving for more dopamine, the more you smoke the more dopamine your brain releases; and you sort of start depending on nicotine.

Once you become dependent on nicotine, without it you might find it hard to concentrate, you will start feeling nervous, anxious and annoyed all the time. So you start smoking more, without knowing what problems it can cause to your body.

As for the diseases caused by tobacco, the cigarette pack warns us of different forms of cancer, but there are many other diseases. Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. So nicotine abuse leads to heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis. Female smokers tend to enter menopause (A natural decline in reproductive hormones when a woman reaches her 40s or 50s) earlier than non- smokers. Smoking has also been shown to increase hot flashes.

According to World Health Organization data, tobacco kills. It kills more than 8 million people each year. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

If you are a chain smoker who wants to kick the habit, you should have strong willpower.

Anyway, these are the hard facts, if you still want to light up a fag, well it’s your choice.

AUTHOR : HARSHIT PAUL

  interns, naked truth, World No Tobacco Day