That’s pretty much the axiom that all medical professionals live by, and the efforts to discourage smoking are part of every high school’s curriculum and government health initiative.
Lighting up a tobacco product, once a sign of sophistication and sex appeal, has been submerged in public life to the relentless actions of the morality police. As such, it’s been consigned to the cold, the dark, the rain and the heat, shunted off to places out of the way and off the grid. Smokers are the unwashed, the forbidden and the guests who won’t leave, restricted by laws and busybodies who resent even the slightest sign that they may be partaken in this unhealthy habit.
There are an estimated 40 million Americans who smoke tobacco products. But given the health hazards and the social stigma, those numbers are dwindling, even as alternatives like e-cigarettes (the so-called vaping or electronic smoking) rise up as tobacco substitutes.
There are many reasons to call it quits. Addiction, cancer and heart disease, lung problems and the cost of cigarettes, cigars and other products are high, discouraging smoking. Advertising for tobacco products is banned by the Federal Communications Commission, and gone are the days when Joe Camel was encouraging kids to partake in this once-celebrated pastime.
And rightfully so. New evidence shows that smoking has an undiscovered medical issue. It can actually damage parts of the brain.