Smoking is a deadly habit that not only kills, but also causes many smokers to die up to 15 years earlier than they would if they did not smoke, according to the "The Tobacco Atlas," a joint project of the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation. Smoking does not only affect smokers, however. Participating in the activity endangers the health and lives of people who do not smoke, as well, killing approximately 200,000 nonsmokers every year as a result of the secondhand smoke it produces.
History
People did not always view smoking as a deadly or even dangerous habit. Prior to the 1970s, smoking in public and private places was a common activity widely associated with success and wealth, according to Dr. C. Stuart Houston's 1986 article "The Sociology of Cigarette Smoking," published in the "Canadian Medical Association Journal." Betty Carnes of Scottsdale, Arizona, helped to forever change the way people perceived smoking in 1971. That year, she convinced three airlines to provide her with a seat in a nonsmoking area for her frequent flights between New York City and Phoenix, Arizona. Her request caught on with other fliers, eventually leading the majority of airlines to start including nonsmoking sections on their commercial aircraft.
Types of Smoking
The most common type of smoking around the world is smoking cigarettes. As of 2009, cigarettes accounted for a whopping 96 percent of all sales of manufactured tobacco products, states "The Tobacco Atlas." Manufactured cigarettes are not the only kind of tobacco product that you can smoke, however. For example, cigars are aged products containing fermented and air-cured tobacco in a wrapper made of a tobacco leaf. Smokers in Europe and New Zealand prefer hand-rolled cigarettes that you produce yourself by filling cigarette paper with loose tobacco. In South Asia, smokers prefer sun-dried tobacco hand-rolled in a tendu or temburni leaf, which are called bidis, and smokers in Indonesia prefer cigarettes with clove flavoring called kreteks.
Adult Smokers
While more men smoke than women, the latter group still has a large proportion of smokers. "The Tobacco Atlas" estimates approximately 250 million women worldwide smoked everyday as of 2009, compared to nearly 1 billion men who are daily smokers. Male smoking is an especially huge and troubling problem in China, where almost 60 percent of men smoke. That percentage equals roughly 311 million men, which is larger than the population of the United States. The largest number of female smokers occurs in the United States, where about 24 million women smoked as of 2008.
Young Smokers
In contrast to the significant gender differences in adult smokers, girls are just as likely to smoke as boys in about 60 percent of the world's countries, explains "The Tobacco Atlas." Although boys smoke more than girls overall, the number of girls who smoke is rising, which contributes to the similarities between the two groups in terms of smoking rates. Gender plays no role in one important aspect, however: both boys and girls who smoke are likely to become addicted to the habit before they become adults.
Global Usage
The 1881 invention of the first machine used to roll cigarettes marked the beginning of the steadily increasing global usage of cigarettes, according to "The Tobacco Atlas." Although the health dangers of smoking were obvious as early as the 1960s, the world's increasing population has contributed heavily to the rising consumption of cigarettes. As a result, "The Tobacco Atlas" estimates the number of smokers worldwide will increase by 2 billion people between 2000 and 2030 if current smoking trends continue unchecked.
References
- "Canadian Medical Association Journal"; The Sociology of Cigarette Smoking; C. Stuart Houston, M.D.; April 1986
- "The Tobacco Atlas, Third Edition"; Dr. Omar Shafey, Dr. Michael Eriksen, Dr. Hana Ross and Dr. Judith Mackay; 2009
- American Cancer Society--The Tobacco Atlas: Boys' Tobacco Use
- American Cancer Society--The Tobacco Atlas: Cigarette Consumption
- American Cancer Society--The Tobacco Atlas: Female Smoking
