By Abdellatif Sharaa

must start right away by saying that smoking tobacco is harmful, dangerous and fatal in many different ways regardless of its type, form, full strength, light, etc. All tobacco is bad. Many out there will say we already know that it is harmful and many of them are smokers who might skip a meal but never a cigarette! Allow me here to say that such smokers are slaves to this burning stick and are in its control.

I had a chance to work in the field of fighting smoking, during which I met many people, young and old, women and men, and yes children only 13 and 14 years old who were smoking. The majority of them claimed they wanted to quit smoking, but very few actually did, as most of them could not kick the habit. I cannot describe to you how horrible was the cough of some of the children I dealt with because of smoking.

Here is what the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about the adverse effects of smoking regarding cardiovascular diseases:
Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).

• Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease, which are among the leading causes of death in the United States.
• Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
• Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.
• A stroke occurs when:
  o A clot blocks blood flow to part of your brain;
  o A blood vessel in or around your brain bursts.
• Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your legs and skin.
  Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.
• Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer. If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.
• Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.

Believe me, these are just few things smoking cause. Actually what prompted me to write about this is that there are some prominent companies in the tobacco field who are now directly or indirectly saying that smoking is bad and harmful by introducing new forms of smoking or nicotine delivery devices into the body, but for me smoking or anything close to it is smoking and harmful.

A personal note - my father was a heavy smoker, and smoked for many years. He was healthy and active until one day he was diagnosed with ischemia, which is a condition of narrowing of the arteries, and had to undergo bypass surgery, which was a major thing at the time. He suffered a lot and passed away, all because of smoking.
Please, for the sake of yourself, and for those who love you: Stop smoking!

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