The ways in which tobacco smoke affects the human body have been under extensive research and study for many years. Recent findings may explain why cigarettes are so addicting. An unknown component or part of tobacco smoke appears to destroy an important enzyme in the brain called monoamine oxsidase B (MOA B). The enzyme is essential in breaking down excess amounts of the chemical dopamine, a nerve cell messenger chemical and one that is involved in pleasure-seeking behaviour. Apparently smokers have low levels of MOA B and have exceptionally abnormal levels of dopamine, which most likely encourage the smoker to go for the more pleasure seeking things such as smoking, and sometimes experimenting with more mind altering drugs.
Recent research has focused on the effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). This is the effect of smoke in the atmosphere and the environment and how it affects the non-smokers. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that exposure to ETS, which contains all of the same toxic chemicals that the smoker inhales, causes 3000 cancer deaths a year in non-smokers. It can also provoke less serious diseases such as asthma, impaired blood circulation, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
5 Facts About Children And Tobacco Use
1)Everyday more than 3000 adolescents (in the United States) smoke their first cigarette, taking the first big step to becoming regular smokers. One-third of these “new” smokers will eventually die of a tobacco related disease. 2) Forty percent of all teenagers who have tried to quit smoking have failed. 3) Smoking is one of those addictions that you get before you reach adulthood (18 years). 89% of all