Smoking - a practice which harms our health

Tobacco smoking is a practice in which tobacco is burned and the smoke inhaled or tasted. Smoking is primarily practiced as a route of administration for nicotine through the lungs; it is a way of getting nicotine into your system rapidly.

Over one billion people globally smoke tobacco every day.

Smoking dates are coming since 7,000 years ago. The globalization of cigarette smoking originates from the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, where tobacco smoking was common. The Europeans quickly took it up, and it spread around the world rapidly

USA statistics - according to the American Heart Association, 23.1% of men (24.8 million) and 18.3% of women (21.1 million) are smokers. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) an estimated total of 443,000 deaths occur every year in the USA from cigarette smoking - almost 1 in every 5 deaths. That is more deaths than the combined total from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders.

UK statistics - according to the National Health Service, UK, about one quarter of the adult population of the UK smokes (20 million people). 25% of British men and 23% of British women smoke. Smoking is the biggest cause of illness and death in the UK, causing 114,000 smokers to die annually. About half of all British smokers eventually manage to stop.

Many countries have introduced legislation over the last three decades banning smoking in shops, restaurants, pubs and bars, public places, etc. Not that many decades ago movie theaters (cinemas) in England used to have smoking and non-smoking sections. A significant number of young people are not aware that smoking was common in commercial airplanes.

People's view of smoking has varied over time, from being a vulgar habit, a sophisticated pastime, to a deadly health hazard. Over the last three decades of the twentieth century, mainly in industrialized countries, smoking became increasingly viewed as an undesirable activity that is bad for the health - a practice that kills.