Have you ever thought about smoking? How ridiculous and dangerous it is? Yet still, for some reason, there are many smokers and it is becoming a huge problem. Think about this. If you could collect all the money that two smokers have wasted on cigarettes, how much do you think you would have? An average of $4,260 per adult smoker (around 3,834€). So if we double that – 7,668€. Can you imagine how much we could save? Talking about money and – health.

A 2007 report states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die because of smoking. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. Smokers die significantly earlier than nonsmokers: 13.2 years for men and 14.5 years for women. Nonsmokers are in danger too. They involuntarily inhale secondhand smoke, which can cause lung cancer and/or heart diseases. All of that is a downfall for the state and its development – not entirely true as it gets a lot of profit of that, but it gives a bad impression and causes many problems and procedures. As for the question – why are cigarettes selling? Why are they still legal? Well, it does make money and some say it is healthy in some ways. As the male and female who lived longest (122 and 120) were smokers almost all their lives. We have been informed that it can also prevent – actually protect the brain against Parkinson’s disease, and many others. The worry about that is ‘to what extent or measure’ and ‘should certain individuals at high risk for diseases inhale such chemicals?’

That is my thought of the day.

Nina Vukelić, 9.b