Related Literature Foreign Literature Smoking is the practice of inhaling tobacco from a pipe or cigarette. The custom of smoking tobacco is thought to have started in the Americas. In the late 1400's, English and Spanish explorers returning from the New World brought back to Europe the custom of pipe smoking, which they had learned from Indians. Cigarette smoking may have started among the Aztecs of Mexico, who smoked shredded tobacco rolled inside corn husks. Until the 1900's tobacco was used mainly in cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff. Later cigarette smoking became popular and increased sharply after World War 1 (1918) and again after World War II (1945)i. In 1964 the United States Public Health Service released a landmark document, smoking in health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General, which concluded that smoking is a major cause of cancer of the lung, mouth and throat. Since, then researchers have shown that each year cigarette smoking cause more than 300,000 premature deaths in the United States alone, principally from the heart disease, cancer and chronic (long – lasting) obstructive lung disease, such as emphysema. In 1965, congress adopted legislation requiring that all cigarette packages carry a warning about the health hazard of smoking. Cigarette advertisements on radio and television have been banned since 1970. One of the more recent concerns about smoking is the effects of tobacco smoke has on nonsmokers (" passive or involuntary'' smoking). The 1986 Surgeon General's Report, the health consequences of involuntary smoking, came to three major conclusion: (1) Involuntary smoking is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in
healthy nonsmokers; (2) the children of parents who smoke have more respiratory infection, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, than the children on non- smokers. (3) The separation of smokers and non- smokers may reduce, but does not eliminate, the exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco smokeii. These findings support recent trend towel restricting or banning smoking in public places and in the workplace. In fact, the surgeon general and Public Health Service have called fro smoke – free society in succeeding years. Campaigns aimed at educating the Public about the health hazards of smoking have been very successful. Studies shows that 90% of the U.S. adult population now recognizes that cigarette smoking cause lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema. Teenagers have begun turning away from cigarettes. The percentage of high school seniors who smoke every day has fallen from 29 % in 1977 to about 20% in 1987. It is critical that people recognize that dangers of smoking before they consider taking up the habit. Smoking causes smokers cough, a lower capacity for exercise, addiction to nicotine, and in the long run, severe disability and deathiii. Local Literature In the Philippines, the number of women who smoke is constantly on the rise. It is a phenomenon that, in recent years, seems to affect the youngest most of all: 30% of girls between the ages of 13 and 18 smoke regularly. According to a recent study conducted by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, 18.7% of Filipino young women between the ages of 13 and 25 smoke cigarettes. The numbers go up if the sample is restricted to teenagers between 13 and 15: 3 out of 10
already have the smoking habit. Among female smokers, 60% say that they smoked their first cigarette at the age of 18, while the remaining 40% say they started when they were still very young. They continue to smoke despite the fact that they are aware of the risks connected to smoking: nine girls out of ten know that smoking can cause lung cancer, infertility, early menopause, osteoporosis, and hysterectomy. For this reason, the country has begun an anti-smoking campaign supported by the local Catholic Church: the first initiatives include that of putting warning labels on packagingiv. Sources:
The New Book of Knowledge, 1992, pp. 243 Time Magazine, Volume 44, 1995, pp.5 iii The New Book Of Knowledge, 1992, pp. 587 iv AsiaNews.It.com, February 05, 2007 i
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