Who else is inhaling cigarette smoke?
Editor’s note: Douglas County Public Health is working with a group of seniors at Jefferson High School about tobacco advertising and smoking prevention efforts. A student wrote the following letter about the issue.
To the editor:
I’m an 18-year-old student who knows many young smokers. When it comes to smoking, my generation is the most educated about health risks and the damage smoking can cause, yet we continue to smoke.
We know that urea, a chemical found in cat urine, is also found in cigarettes. We also know that cigarette smoke contains a little more than 4,000 chemicals, and 69 of those can cause cancer.
We selfishly ignore the fact that when a person smokes in a room with other people, the rest of those people are inhaling that cancer-causing, urea-laden, secondhand smoke, as well.
Most smokers don’t stop to think about their loved ones, the innocent children around them, or friends they may be infecting with smoke. Their silent homicide is caused with just one puff.
Smoking is a burning issue to this day, despite our increasing knowledge of the matter. Stop to think about your actions and who you are infecting.