The Benefits of Smoking Actually Outweigh the Risks ( Take 2 )

As someone who has never smoked and never will smoke, I hope to inform everyone on the risks of smoking and why any benefits smoking may provide are either marginal, non-existent, or can be given without smoking. If my opponent agrees, I'd like to set the burden of proof as being on Pro - that would mean Pro must positively prove the resolution in order to win. However, if he would prefer we can set the BOP as being split, meaning each side must prove their own case. Within the medical community, tobacco smoking is regarded as a major health hazard, enough so that in 2008 the World Health Organization (WHO) attributed it to 100 million deaths in 20th century, and that one billion people could die in the 21st century from it due to its increasing prominence in poor and developing countries. (WHO, page 6) Dr. Margaret Chen, the Director-General of the WHO, noted that "tobacco use can kill in so many ways that it is a risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death in the world". (WHO, page 7) The WHO describes tobacco as "the single most preventable cause of death in the world today" and noted that, with five million annual deaths, it kills more people than TB, HIV/AIDS, and malaria combined. They state that tobacco kills up to half of its users and can harm everyone exposed to it. (WHO, page 8) The health risks of tobacco smoking have been well-known for more than a century now. In 1912 Dr. Isaac Adler suggested lung cancer was related to smoking, and in 1929 Fritz Lickint published a study giving evidence to this theory, showing those with lung cancer were likely to be smokers. The epidemic did not truly begin until the rise of cigarette smoking following World War I - prior to the war it was a rare disease, but following the war lung cancer rates spiked. [2] In the 1950s we began seeing more research linking tobacco to lung cancer, including Richard Doll's 1950 study in the British Medical Journal and the British Doctor's Study, which conclusively proved the link. [3] The famous Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States was published in 1964, linking smoking to emphysema, increased risk of heart attack, chronic bronchitis, and a 70% higher age-corrected mortality rate, in addition to lung cancer and underweight newborns in smoking pregnant women. [4] Simply put, the evidence here is overwhelming - and these are just the old studies! Newer studies have shown risks from second-hand smoke and even the residue that tobacco smoke leaves on outside substances. These are strong words - how can a simple plant be so harmful? That is what I am out to prove, and I hope that by the end of this debate everyone will come away with a greater understanding of tobacco smoking's immense risks. Why is tobacco smoking so unhealthy? Let's look at the facts. According to the National Cancer Institute, "Of the more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful. .. Among the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 69 can cause cancer". Let's take a look at some of the 'greatest hits':*Arsenic - A toxic chemical that, in addition to being a carcinogen, disrupts the production of ATP. [6] Well-known as a rat poison. [7]*Benzene - A cancer-causing chemical linked to bone-marrow failure, leukemia, DNA and chromosome damage, and organ damage. [8]*Beryllium - A carcinogen that causes berylliosis, a pulmonary disease. [9] *Polonium-210 - An extremely toxic radioactive isotope of polonium, notably used to murder Alexander Litvinenko. [10]Those are just a few of the deadly chemicals smokers inhale each time they take a drag. In addition, smoking damages artery linings and increases the risk of blood clots, leading to risk of heart attacks and strokes. It also contains carbon monoxide, which decreases the amount of oxygen in your blood, and nicotine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure. [11] Carbon monoxide and cyanide are believed to lead to pulmonary damage, resulting in emphysema and COPD. [12] Oral issues include oral cancer, periodontitis, teeth staining, and bad breath. [13] A side effect of the artery narrowing caused by smoking is impotence, something 85% higher in male smokers than non-smokers. Additionally, smoking is a key cause of ED - meaning it is responsible for all the Viagra commercials that come on in football games. [14] Reproductive issues aren't just limited to men - because the smoke chemicals interfere with estrogen production, women are hurt here as well. [15]The result of all this crap? Smokers lose upwards to 13 years of life. [16] That is 13 fewer years to see their grandkids, travel the world, or enjoy retirement. And that's just the death statistics - it doesn't account for, for example, smokers surviving with COPD or ED. It doesn't account for smokers that are impotent, or have suffered miscarriages because of the damage of smoking. It doesn't account for second-hand smoke. It doesn't account for the effect of smoke on pets, the noxious smell of smoke, the residue it leaves on everything it touches. It doesn't account for the cost of a two-pack a day addiction, or of medical treatment for when you are dying from cancer. Just from years lost alone this debate resolution is disproven - what on earth could be worth losing over a dozen years of life over? With the bad stuff out of the way, let's look at some positives of smoking. Hey, smokers don't have as many knee replacement surgeries! Well, that could be because smokers aren't likely to jog and aren't generally obese. Why aren't they obese? Because nicotine is an appetite suppressant. Never mind it is highly addictive and might actually make the food you do eat taste worse, that is indeed a positive. [17] Of course, you don't need to smoke to get nicotine - you can just go buy some of the nicotine replacement gum products to get smokers to stop smoking. Another plus is you might not get Parkinson's. [17] If you would rather die young than risk getting a condition maybe 2% of the population at most, I guess smoking is an option. [18] It's a similar thing with Alzheimer's: apparently nicotine might reduce the risk or push back offset a bit longer. Of course, it could just be because people who smoke die sooner, so they don't get it. [19] You also might have less of a mortality rate from heart attacks, but this might be because you'll get them younger so your body will be more used to them. [17] Smoking also helps clopidogrel, a blood-clot inhibiting drug, work better. [17] Simply put though, none of these slight benefits outweigh the risk - and in many cases, you could just get the same effect elsewhere, either from another, less harmful drug, or from just using nicotine and cutting out the smoke. Either way, smoking is most certainly more of a health risk than a health benefit. References:1. . http://www.who.int...2. . https://en.wikipedia.org...3. . https://en.wikipedia.org...4. . https://en.wikipedia.org...5. . http://www.cancer.gov...6. . https://en.wikipedia.org...7. . http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov...8. . https://en.wikipedia.org...9. . https://en.wikipedia.org...10. . http://www.nytimes.com...11. . http://www.bhf.org.uk...12. . https://en.wikipedia.org...13. . https://en.wikipedia.org...14. . https://en.wikipedia.org...15. . https://en.wikipedia.org...16. . http://www.cdc.gov...17. . http://www.livescience.com...18. . http://www.genome.gov...19. . http://www.straightdope.com...