Smoking (pre-lecture ideas)

Firstly I think it's important to point out that in my family smoking is considered wrong and disgusting. My boyfriend thinks the same and has said that if I ever started smoking he would threaten to leave me if I didn't stop.

All pretty good reasons not to smoke. The there are the health risks and other damaging/unappealing side effects too! Stop smoking start living has many good reasons to give up and not start in the first place. Also the NHS website states

"Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are poisons. Some might be relatively harmless by themselves, but together in smoke they make a toxic cocktail.


Poisons in tobacco smoke
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas linked with heart disease, stroke and other circulation problems.
Tar is deposited in the lungs with every breath of cigarette smoke taken. Tar causes cancer and damages your lungs.
Benzene is a solvent and is a known cause of cancer and is associated with leukaemia.
Formaldehyde is a poison used to preserve dead bodies. It is known to cause cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.
Ammonia is used in cigarettes - it is also found in cleaning fluids.
Cadmium is a poisonous metal, used in batteries. It causes liver, kidney and brain damage. "

Also it shocked me to find out just how many smokers get ill from smoking and how much the NHS spends on treating smokers. If you have 2 minutes to spare I suggest trying this quiz out for yourself (LifeBytes-Smoking).


If all this wasn't an incentive enough I would hope this picture (from the new NHS get unhooked campaign) would be.

I can't really see any situations (in this country and our culture) where smoking is right. I can see how it is appealing with all the peer pressure but I would conclude there are more reasons against smoking than for. Now I'll wait and see how the lecture affects my views.