Dangers of smoking

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) recommends that cigarette manufacturers include warnings that caution consumers of the dangers of smoking. The provision of warnings strives to ensure that the consumer is aware of the dangers of smoking prior to purchasing and using the product. In the claim selected, the cigarette manufacturers warn nonsmokers that they are at risk of acquiring lung diseases because of inhaling second-hand smoke. The claim demonstrates that nonsmokers are at risk of smoking-related diseases just like the smokers. The claim illustrates that it is possible for nonsmokers to be affected by tobacco smoke as it is puffed off by nonsmokers. 

Specifically, the claim indicates that nonsmokers are at risk of lung diseases. Nonsmokers who inhale the tobacco smoke are likely to acquire lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and lung cancer. Indirectly, the claim acts as a warning to nonsmokers. The claim warns non-smokers to avoid areas where tobacco inhalation is high as they would experience significant health risks. The claim further indicates that the lung diseases would be fatal.

Supporting Articles

According to Fanny & David (2011), air pollution increases the risk of lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of review where they highlight the different research studies that associate air pollution with the development of COPD. The authors also conduct a comprehensive analysis of indoor and outdoor air pollution. The authors indicate that exposure to outdoor pollution is inevitable since human beings are generally outdoor persons. However, the exposure to indoor pollutants includes exposure to second-hand smoking. Specifically, the authors address the exposure to environmental tobacco smoke exposure. The authors acknowledge that environmental tobacco smoke exposure is a leading risk factor for lung cancer, chronic symptoms and low pulmonary functions. The authors review various large scale studies that demonstrate a significant association between outdoor air pollution and COPD admissions.

Brown (2000) also conducts a review of epidemiological studies that attempt to show a relation between lung cancer and non-smokers. Specifically, the authors review epidemiological studies that demonstrate the high occurrence of lung cancer among women living with husbands who are cigarette smokers. The study demonstrates that women married to husbands who are smokers experience a significant risk of lung diseases due to inhalations of environmental tobacco exposure. The authors also analyze epidemiological studies that demonstrate that a high exposure to tobacco smokers (at the workplace) can expose nonsmokers to the threat of lung diseases.

Thomas, et al. (2013) conducts a descriptive scientific study to establish the existence of third-hand tobacco smoke and its relation to the occurrence of lung cancer to nonsmokers. The authors describe third-hand tobacco smoke as tobacco-specific substances that remain on surfaces and dusty areas after people have smoked. The authors gathered random participants who lived in homes where a family member smoked tobacco. The authors also included participants who were active smokers; a fact that the author verified using a urine cotinine test strip. The author used descriptive statistics to calculate the smoking-related variable. The mean and median were also used to calculate the existence of the tobacco carcinogen (NNK).

 The authors analyzed the surfaces of homes of smokers and nonsmokers and discovered the presence of a powerful tobacco-specific lung carcinogen (NNK) that exposes non-smokers to the risk of lung cancer. The authors put in the spotlight smokers and how their smoking tendencies can affect non-smokers around them. The study also calls for potential home buyers to determine whether a home has NNK or not so as to minimize the risk of lung diseases and other tobacco related complications.

The health claim on the association of secondhand tobacco inhalation to fatal lung diseases is true. Scientific studies have proven the existence of tobacco particles that nonsmokers inhale when in the presence of smokers. The claim can inform a public-health intervention to minimize the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoking. Legislators can pass a bill that requires public areas such as restaurants and offices to demarcate smoking zones for smokers. The demarcation of smoking zones ensures that nonsmokers do not inhale the tobacco. Additionally, states can begin statewide campaigns against tobacco smoking, in enclosed areas. Smoking in enclosed areas results to the tobacco sediments settling on surfaces, as well as the pollution of the air. Tobacco smoking indoors increases the risk of secondhand smoking compared to outdoor smoking. The campaign will focus on encouraging smokers to puff their cigarettes outdoors. The campaign will be supported by adequate information on the risk of indoor smoking. The campaign will focus on smokers who smoke within their homes thus expose nonsmokers including their children to the negative outcomes of secondhand smoke.

References

Brown, K. G. (2000). Lung cancer and environmental tobacco smoke. Environmental Health Perspectives Supplements, 107885.

Fanny, W. & David, S. (2011). Air pollution and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respiratory. Vol. 17:395-401.

Thomas, J. L., Hecht, S. S., Luo, X., Ming, X., Ahluwalia, J. S., & Carmella, S. G. (2014). Third Hand Tobacco Smoke: A Tobacco-Specific Lung Carcinogen on Surfaces in Smokers’ Homes. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 16(1), 26-32.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in write my nursing research paper services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from essay already written services.