Cigarette Facts I Should have Known Then

Tobacco products and their accessories from cigarette cases to Zippo Lighters are probably the most accepted addiction and accessories in society, respectively. Yes, more than sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll! In my teenage years, it was deemed cool to be able to blow O-rings like it was nobody’s business but mine and, naive as I was then, I fell for it hook, line and sinker. If only I knew of these facts about cigarettes, I most certainly would have stayed clear of the sticks!

Ills of Society

As a single good, cigarettes are the most traded product on Earth. Now, there is nothing wrong about hundreds of billions of money exchanging hands especially when many people depend on the industry for their livelihood. After all, who are we to deprive our fellowmen of food on the table in these difficult times?

Yet, when you consider that cigarette money causes some of the most controversial of society’s ills, you start to reconsider your stand. For one thing, hundreds of millions are spent on health care for people affected by smoking-related diseases, money that could be used for other purposes. For another thing, many have lost their lives due of smoking and its related vices like alcoholism. And we are not talking about diseases here but of road accidents and drug overdoses!

And with reports from reputable sources pointing to greater nicotine content in many well-known brands, we can expect more cigarette addictions to plague our nation.

Ills of the Body

Smoking kills, so I have heard over and over again in my misguided youth. It was a reproach that I conciously chose to disregard because, well, I was very confident of my own immortality, being 15 by the time I started to make friends with cigarettes. In fact, my first non-food, non-comic, non-candy purchase I ever made with my stipend was a cigarette lighter case!

If I had known that cigarettes contain several known carcinogenic, I definitely would have never smoked that fateful first puff! Some of these carcinogenic substances – arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and ammonia – are things that I shudder to think I have forcefully although willingly introduced to my fragile lungs then. And to think that I suffered from chronic asthma as a child!

So, now that I am a responsible adult, or at least I like to think that I am although my parents will possibly challenge my declaration on some points, I always caution my children about the dangers of smoking. Hopefully, they can make better decisions than I did in my youth. Cross my fingers.