The harm of cigarettes

Dillon Wosyluk Period 2 Persuasive speech The Harm of Cigarettes I stand here before you not as a stranger, but as man trying to make a difference. I am here today to talk to my public about the tobacco industry, and their death sticks, cigarettes. Cigarettes are the single most preventable cause of disease and death. cigarettes do absolutely no good for our society. Some argue that America make a lot of money off of tobacco use, but this is false. The truth is that it costs America fifty billion dollars a year annually in increased healthcare costs and lost productivity, that and four hundred lives of course. I don’t see how this is worth it, but who am I to the tobacco industry? In their eyes I’m just another whinny protester that is trying to make them lose money. The tobacco industries have said it themselves that nicotine is just as addictive than heroine or cocaine, which are to very destructive drugs. Why does this over usage of tobacco products exist if we know how addictive and dangerous it is to smoke cigarettes? Because of how many people are already addicted and have no intentions of quitting. Most of the time it is not even adults making the decision to smoke. Sixty percent of smokers start at age 14 and ninety percent of them are addicted to cigarettes at age nineteen. It is estimated that 3, 000 kids under the age of 18 start smoking every day. Something must be done about this epidemic of underage smoking. The side affects of smoking cigarettes are just incredible. It is amazing that people don’t quit after seeing that they really do just kill you over time. Cigarettes cause all sorts of cancers, which lung cancer is the most common, increase risk of a stroke, and physical harm. Smoking just about makes your entire body weaker. It’s said that for every cigarette you smoke, your actually smoking 5 minutes of your life away. Also, a fifty year tobacco study shows that smokers will die about 10 to 15 years earlier than a nonsmoker. Of the current 44. 5 million smokers in 2003, 32 million wanted to quit. It’s obvious that they can’t quit because of their addiction to nicotine. People just under estimate it all the time. Some people smoke a pack or two packs a day, this can cost up to 3, 200 dollars a year. It really isn’t a cheap habit. Smoking in public places has been a pretty big issue lately. People don’t want to be around smokers if they don’t have to, and with studies of second hand smoke it is only a matter of time until smoking isn’t allowed in more public areas. For those of you who do not know what second hand smoke are, it is the breathing in of smoke from someone else’s cigarette. Three thousand people die from second hand smoke annually. It appears smokers do not just harm themselves with their dirty little habit anymore. It should be clear for them to quit not just for themselves but for others who don’t wish to breath their filth. Smoking is not as harmless as it used to be, in fact it was always harmless. Knowing what we know now is useless if we don’t use our knowledge to mankind. We know something that kills people and is sold frequently across the world, but we don’t get rid of the product, we buy and sell it because there’s never enough money for the people who run the world. One day the greed of mankind will lead to its downfall. Maybe one day everyone one will realize how horribly smoking is bad for you and that affects every aspect of a persons health.