Smoking and its implications

Monday, November 15th, 2010
Universidad Metropolitana
North American Cultural Studies
Professor: Hélène Zaragoza
Final Project

Smoking and its Implications

Susana Antonorsi Q.
Carnet. – 20111120902
Rodolfo Rodríguez
Carnet. – 20111120544
Cristina Prasniki
Carnet. – 20111120968

Index
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..…......3

2. Cigarette andsmoking…………………………………………………..........4

1. History…………………………………………………….…………..……4

2. Health Issues……………………………………………….……………..4

3. Nicotine Addiction…………………………………………….…………..5

3. Smoking in society……………………………………………………….........6

1. Underage smoking……………………………………………….………6

2. Smoking at age 20-30…..………………………………………………..7

3. Smoking at age 40………………………………………………….…….9

4. DataCollection………………………………………………………………..11

1. World percentage………………………………………………………..11

2. “Estudios Culturales Norteamericanos” class poll……………...........12

3. Evaluation………………………………………………………………..14

5. Video Aid……………………………………………………………………...15

1. Video #1: A smoker’s tale……………………………………………….15

2. Video #2: What happens when you quit smoking? …………………..15

6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..16

7. Annexes………………………………………………………………………..178. References……………………………………………………………………..18

NOTE: Attached is the poll done in class

1. Introduction
It is not rare that smoking has become the first and most popular topic for statistics in the whole world. Everything has been said about this addiction but somehow people continue to do it and more than 3.000 teenagers start smoking each day.

By the time this is read someone hasalready died from tobacco use.

But the real question is why people continue to do it? This is why in our project we decided to compare the actual numbers of smokers and facts related, with the ones in our Estudios Culturales Norteamericanos class, so we could both evaluate if we are above or below the standards and create some more awareness than the current.

“Setting an example is not themain means of influencing another, it is the only means”
-Albert Einstein.

2. Cigarette and Smoking
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. In order to smoke, the cigarette is ignited at one end and its’ smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth. After one has inhaled the smoke released from thecigarette and it passes through your system, it is released eventually by exhaling.

2.1 History
The earliest forms of cigarettes were largely indistinguishable from their predecessor, the cigar. Cigarettes have been attested in Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. During time, cigarettes have spread all over the world, not always containing the same drugs;some are tobacco, others are herbs such as cannabis. They have evolved in many ways, especially in their manufacture; nowadays a cigar can have a specific level of nicotine, making it the least harmless as possible for the smoker (although this does not mean it does not have an effect).

2.2 Health Issues
The health concerns that cigarettes are innumerable starting from physical issues, tomental problems in the long run. First of all, nicotine, the primary psychoactive chemical in cigarettes, is addictive; cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects (which include mental and physical disability). Many anti-smoking ads claim that, on average, each cigarette smoked shortens lifespan by 11 minutes and half of smokers die early of tobacco-related disease andlose, on average, 14 years of life. Some countries require cigarette packs to contain warnings about health. The United States was the first, later followed by other countries including Canada, most of Europe, Australia, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.

2.3 Nicotine Addiction
As we mentioned before, nicotine is an...