Cause and Effect Essay - Final Draft

The Effects of Smoking

Every year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking. One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur at middle age. Internal and external damage to the body, and also Second Hand Smoke are some of the effects of cigarette smoking.


One effect of cigarette smoking is the damage and hurt of certain internal organs due to disease. A statistic that shows approximately how many people smoking affects is, “About 90% of deaths due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema diseases are …” (Johnson). Some of these diseases are more serious than others and may have an immediate or a slowly progressing affect on your health and on your life in general. These diseases include emphysema, bronchitis, lung cancer, and physical and psychological addictiveness to the substance. More internal effects of cigarette smoking are delayed conception and fertility in women, amputation of limbs, heart attack and stroke, and swelling of the lungs. This is what causes the chronic coughing and wheezing in smokers. The swelling of the lungs causes the smoker to have hard time breathing. Smoking can damage your internal organs and hinder you from living a healthy life.


Another effect of cigarette smoking is the external and outward appearance of your body. Over time, smokers tend to look much older than they really are, “smokers in their 40 appear more like 60 year old nonsmokers” (Smoking and Beauty). This premature aging is due to the wrinkles in a smoker’s skin and the change in color and texture. Years of smoking can make your cheeks look hollow and increase the wrinkles around your eyes and mouth. More external effects of cigarette smoking include yellowing of teeth and nails, bad breath, weight loss, cataracts in eyes, and the decrease of saliva in mouth. It has also been proved that a smoker is three times more likely to lose their teeth than a non-smoker. Therefore, external appearance of your body can be altered by the smoking of a cigarette.


The final effect of smoking is the ongoing pollution of second hand smoke that has been passed on to others. Second Hand Smoke also known as passive smoking, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), or involuntary smoking. This action occurs when the exhaled smoke from one person's cigarette is inhaled by another person. The Environmental Agency issued a report in 1993 estimating that “3,000 lung cancer related deaths in the US were caused by passive smoking every year” (Johnson). Non-smokers exposed to second hand smoke are at greater risk for many of the health problems connected with direct smoking. Second Hand Smoking is especially risky for children and pregnant women who are carrying babies. It can cause them to have a low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), bronchitis, pneumonia, and middle ear infections. Cigarette smoking can also cause second hand smoke which has been killing millions of people.


Therefore, internal and external damage to the body, and also Second Hand Smoke are some of the effects of cigarette smoking. Please stay away from smoking and try not to be a victim of second hand smoke. It has killed hundreds of thousands of people already. Don't be another statistic.

Works Cited

Johnson, Len. “Quit Smoking Stop.” 2005. Oct. 22, 2007. <www.quit-smoking-stop.com/harmful-smoking-effects.html>
Johnson, Len. “Effects of Second Hand Cigarette Smoke.” 2005. Oct. 22, 2007. <www.quit-smoking-stop.com/harmful-smoking-effects.html>
Smoking and Beauty. Oct. 22, 2007.