The cost of cigarette smoking
EACH YEAR, cigarette smoking exacts a heavy toll on the lives of Jamaicans in terms of ill health, chronic disability and death. It does so, mainly because of its contribution to the development of a variety of cancers and by accelerating the pathological processes which lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Tobacco smoke is also the major cause of the disabling lung condition known as chronic bronchitis and emphysema as well as a contributor to ill health in a number of other ways. The added tragedy is that these disorders also affect non-smokers who live, work or are otherwise closely associated with smokers. It is for these reasons that tobacco consumption has been for several years, the leading cause of avoidable death throughout the world.
As is so often the case with addictive substances, the cigarette habit usually begins in that vulnerable adolescent period when young minds are attracted by the apparent glamour of the habit. Adolescents should know that the habit is strongly addictive, that one-half of habitual smokers will eventually die because of smoking and that many of these will not live to celebrate their 50th birthday.
Dr. Knox Hagley, Chairman, The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control.
