Although it represents an important part of the United States economy, tobacco smoking can lead to a number of diseases and disorders that affect those who use it. The effects of tobacco smoke not only affect those who use it but also those around them: permanently destroying their lungs and children, increasing the risk of disease and cancer. Diseases caused by the effects of smoking or secondhand smoke can lead to emphysema. For starters, even after just a few years of smoking, your lungs could be affected for the rest of your life. Referring to the issue, “If exposure to cigarette advertising is a risk factor for disease, it is up to the public and elected officials to address it as we would the vector of any other pathogen” (Sullum). That said, smoke is known to contain many harmful chemicals found in rat poison and other toxic products. Shortness of breath and exasperation are a fact of life and will occur, but so do illnesses like emphysema that can gradually suffocate the user to death. Based on the following research, “The EPA study is the most recent of these meta-analyses. A 19% increased risk was found among US nonsmokers married to smokers who suffer from emphysema” (Sullivan). Emphysema remains a powerful disease that slowly suffocates its victims; while recent studies show that even if one cannot smoke, secondhand smoke could potentially trigger this disease in loved ones around the smoker. Finally, with recent modern technologies the disease could be eradicated, but avoiding smoking altogether is an immediate solution. According to this recent article, “Regardless of birth weight, children born to smoking mothers are more likely to die in childhood than unexposed children” (Sullivan). Obviously, the underdeveloped lung of... middle of paper... weakened by smoking. The various types of diseases contracted caused by smoking such as emphysema and asthma. Cancer and loss of wealth can be attributed to long-term smoking. All in all, smoking affects the health of the smoker and those around him indefinitely. Smokers don't age; die young.Works CitedResearcher. Network. May 11, 2010. Grossman, Michael and Frank J. Chaloupka. "Cigarette taxes: the straw that breaks the camel's back." Public Health Reports. July/August 1997: 290-297. SIRSResearcher. Network. May 05, 2010.Jordan, Larry. "The Deadly Deceptions of Big Tobacco." Midwest Today: June/July 1996: 6-13.SIRS Researcher. Network. 05 May 2010.Sullum, Giacobbe. "What the doctor orders." Reason. January 1996: 20-27. SIRS.Web researcher. 05 May 2010Unknown. "Passive smoking: is it a danger?" Consumer Reports. January 1995: 27-33. SIRS researcher. Network. May 11 2010