ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RISKS OF SMOKING - GEOGRAFÍA - 2024

The analysis of personal and social risks of smoking considers social and collective risks, and projects the number of people who could be exposed in the short, medium and long term.

The personal and social risks of smoking or chewing tobacco are related to cancer, cardiovascular problems, disability, loss of productivity and death.

This addiction is caused mainly by nicotine, one of the most dangerous components of tobacco.

The risk analysis makes it possible to determine the options available to develop a plan to reduce or eliminate said personal and social risks, produced by smoking or tobacco addiction.

Personal risks

- Smoking and pregnancy

Tobacco use can harm both the smoking mother and the baby during the gestation period. The mother may suffer from vaginal bleeding, ectopic pregnancy, placental abruption, and tachycardias.

Eventually it can affect the baby because it can be born with low weight, suffer from heart attacks or childhood leukemia, and even suffer sudden death.

Studies have revealed that women who smoke tend to give birth to low-weight children, between 150 and 250 grams less than women who do not smoke.

In addition, the carbon monoxide that the mother inhales when smoking affects the fetus more than the mother, because it passes directly into the baby's body through the blood.

- Smoking and cancer

Tobacco addiction is closely related to various types of cancer, the most common being lung, mouth, laryngeal and esophageal cancer. It is also associated with cancer of the pancreas and bladder.

Among the dozens of toxic elements present in cigarette and tobacco smoke, there are several highly carcinogenic substances such as benzopyrene, 2-naphthylamine, N-nitrosamines and 4-aminobiphenyl.

It also contains other possibly carcinogenic elements such as cadmium, nickel, benzene, formaldehyde and polonium 210.

- Smoking and respiratory diseases

Another personal risk of tobacco consumption is the affectation of the respiratory tract in its structural level (airways, alveoli and capillaries), as well as in the defense mechanisms that the lung has to reject external agents.

Tobacco causes sleep apnea, hypersecretion, and infections such as sinusitis, which affect the sinuses.

It also causes diseases such as bronchitis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, in addition to increasing blood pressure and heart rate.

Social risks

- High global mortality rate

The World Health Organization lists smoking as the leading cause of premature death and disability in the world.

In Europe alone, smoking causes 1.2 million deaths annually, while in Latin America and the Caribbean about 150,000. 90% of deaths from lung cancer are a consequence of smoking.

- Affecting the family economy

The spending on cigarettes and tobacco for the average smoker is very high, but it is even more so for the family and society when the smoker contracts a disease and must undergo expensive medical treatments.

- Loss of labor productivity

When a person must be absent from their workplace due to illness, this generates a very high cost for companies in terms of productivity.

References

1. Kate C. Tilleczeka, Donald W. Hineb (2006) The meaning of smoking as health and social risk in adolescence. Department of Sociology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada. Recovered from katetilleczek.ca
2. Health Education & Behavior. Retrieved October 13 from journals.sagepub.com
3. The personal and social risks of smoking. Consulted from estudioraprender.com
4. Smith, George Davey (2003). "Effect of passive smoking on health". BMJ, London, UK.
5. Contraband Cigarettes: Tobacco Smoke Analysis. Consulted from canada.ca
6. The Effects of Smoking on the Human Body (PDF) cdc.gov
7. Analysis of Personal and Social Risks of Smoking. Consulted of biologia5secundaria.wordpress.com