As former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona pointed out in 2004, "The toxins from cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows." The consequences of smoking cigarettes, however, extend beyond physical limits.
While serious diseases brought on by tobacco use can end a life, the additional costs of smoking can make life less enjoyable and far more expensive. Health problems caused by secondhand smoke affect nonsmoking adults, children and fetuses, transforming the personal choice to smoke into a public health concern.
Health
The Centers for Disease Control reports definitively that smoking "causes death." Of health problems that can be fatal, damage to the heart, lungs, kidney, pancreas, stomach and esophagus is more likely among smokers than nonsmokers.
Heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, leukemia and cancers caused by tobacco use can all lead to early death. The surgeon general notes that male smokers live 13.2 years less than the norm, and female smokers live an average of 14.5 years less than female nonsmokers.
Additional health risks from smoking cigarettes include cataracts, which affect eyesight, and periodontitis, which can cause tooth loss and further increases smokers' risks for heart disease.
Quality of Life
Smokers live with the knowledge that their habits can create serious health problems for themselves and others. They must continually watch their supplies and find places to smoke. The anxiety and inconvenience that accompany tobacco use, plus segregation from nonsmokers can hamper social lives. The American Lung Association notes that smoking cigarettes is illegal in public areas in many U.S. jurisdictions, isolating those who wish to smoke.
A decreased fertility rate among smokers, as reported by the CDC, can hamper their family lives. The ALA relates that children of smokers get sick more often. Smelling and tasting like tobacco make smokers less appealing to nonsmokers, and limits their enjoyment of fragrances and foods. Lung and heart problems make smokers less active and less able to get around.
Economics
Work productivity lost to illness as well as medical bills for health problems related to tobacco use make smoking very costly. According to data reported by the ALA, cigarette smoking cost employers and individuals $193 billion in the U.S. in 2004.
The habit itself is expensive, with a pack-a-day price tag nearing $2,000 per year per smoker, based on an average $5 a pack. The CDC reveals that the true cost per pack, including resultant medical bills and lost productivity, is $10.47--more than double what the smoker pays.
