Every time I see those people outside Dougherty sitting on the benches smoking, I can't help but ask myself, "How can people be persuaded to even begin smoking, when it is a known fact that smoking is not only addictive, but fatal as well?." Propaganda is one of the major reasons why teenagers begin to smoke. Smoking advertisements try to convince the consumer that smokers are more attractive, sexier, and that they have more fun than non smokers, but what the advertisements do not tell you are the consequences that smoking carries. Everybody knows that smoking tobacco kills people. What some people don't know is that tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, drugs, fires, homicides, and car accidents combined, about twice as many per year actually. Sadly, the people who smoke are not the only ones who suffer. In fact, around 53,000 Americans every year die of second-hand smoke. My uncle, who was a heavy smoker when he was younger, recently had a heart attack. The doctor that diagnosed him said that all the smoking he had done damaged his heart severely. Thankfully he survived, but at a great cost. He can't do anything that requires him to make the slightest amount of effort: He can't even go to work anymore. All he can do now is stay at home and try to relax. It's hard to relax though, knowing that the next time you bend down to pick up the remote might be your last time.
             Tobacco isn't the only ingredient in cigarettes. Cigarette smoke contains cyanide, benzene, and the radioactive isotope Polonium-210. What they don't tell us is that cyanide can also be found in rat poison or that in 1989, millions of cartons of imported fruit were banned after a minute amount was found in two measly grapes when each cigarette contains 33 times that amount. Another similar incident happened in 1990 when 72 million bottles of mineral water were recalled when a small trace of benzene was detected. Benzene i...