Imagine the air that you and your children breathe is being polluted with hundreds of chemicals and toxic substances, but if you smoke you don't have to imagine. With each cigarette you smoke you are polluting your lungs and the air around you with over four thousand chemical compounds and over four hundred toxic substances. These include ammonia, which is found in household cleaners, cyanide, which is an extremely poisonous substance and butane, which is used to fuel cigarette lighters. Cigarettes contain three main substances with damage our health. Tar, which causes lung cancer, Carbon Monoxide, which binds to haemoglobin and reduces its oxygen carrying capacity, and Nicotine, which is highly addictive and is comparable to heroine and cocaine. In this essay I will discuss the major health concerns that are linked with cigarette smoking, which includes lung cancer, Coronary Heart Disease and even mental health problems.
             Coronary Heart Disease, or CHD as it is more commonly known, is the most common health problem that is linked with smoking. For the heart to function properly it needs a constant flow of blood, and if this supply of blood is interrupted or reduced it can lead to CHD. This is most commonly due to atherosclerosis, which is the build up of fatty materials in the arteries or thrombosis, which is the formation of a blood clot in the arteries. When this happens and the heart does not receive enough blood a myocardial infarction or heart attack takes place.
             Smoking has an effect on the rates of CHD as within one minute of beginning to smoke, the heart rate starts to rise and within the first 10 minutes of smoking may increase by up to thirty percent. Smoking will also increase the blood pressure, which causes the blood vessels to contract, meaning the heart must work harder to supply enough oxygen to the whole body.
             The Nicotine in cigarettes, as well as being highly addictive, increases the amount of cholesterol...