The Problem of Smoking
Smoking is a big social issue in many countries nowadays widely discussed in newspapers, radio and TV-shows. People start smoking for different reasons. Some say they smoke in order to relax, rest and distract from their daily stress.
Smoking is the shortest way to bad health. Today half of the men and a quarter of the women in the world smoke. Some people think that there is not much sense in refraining from smoking, since the inhabitants of many cities and even villages breathe air contaminated with industrial and automobile wastes. They are very wrong. Vehicle exhaust gases are harmful in themselves, but a smoking driver is subject to something far more dangerous.
Another problem is that smoking is usually not a one-shot deal. It can take only weeks or days for new smokers to become addicted. Why? Because cigarettes contain a drug called Nicotine, the ingredient that causes the addiction. Nicotine is a stimulant, which means it makes you feel a little hyper. The more you smoke, the more you want to continue to smoke. Your body becomes physically dependent on the drug and begins to crave it. This is what makes it so difficult to quit smoking once you've started.
Even if you don't smoke, just being around people who are smoking can cause health problems. "Secondhand smoke" (also called "sidestream smoke") from someone else's cigarette can be just as dangerous as smoking itself.
The evidence that exposure to other people's smoke is dangerous to health is now incontrovertible. The exposure to passive smoking is a serious health risk to non-smokers, increasing their chance of contracting lung cancer and heart disease. The degree of risk depends on the extent and duration of exposure. Particularly there is a high risk among workers in the hospitality industries (bar staff, casino workers and other employees in workplaces where smoking is routine). It is estimated that passive smoking causes one premature death a week.
In the past few years some measures have been taken to reduce smoking. There has been a growing awareness of the dangers of smoking throughout the world. The anti-smoking campaigns launched in a number of countries have brought about extensive public censure of this harmful habit and a decrease in the number of smokers among some groups of the population.
In our country the campaign to beat the cigarette habit has acquired a purposeful nature. Special legislative, medical and educational measures are being worked out. Instructions forbid smoking among schoolchildren. Lessons on the harm of smoking have been included in courses of the anatomy, physiology and hygiene, the sale of cigarettes to minors is prohibited. Warnings against the harm of smoking are printed on packets of cigarette brands.
The introduction of warning labels on cigarette packs, and the banning of tobacco advertising help smokers quit.
The ministries of railways, civil aviation, merchant marine and culture have worked out and now implement measures for regulating, limiting and restricting smoking in long-distance and suburban trains, planes, on sea vessels, in theatres, clubs, etc.
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