Negative Effects of Tobacco
By: Karissa Smith
Are cigarettes addictive?
Short Term Effects of Tobacco
- Bad breath
- Bad taste in mouth
- smelly hair/ clothes
- lost athletic ability
- damaged respiratory system
- nicotine addiction
- decreased lung capacity
- limited lung growth/function
- elevated heart rate
- chronic cough
Long Term Effects of Tobacco
- death
- heart disease
- cancer
- lung disease
- reproductive damage
- birth defects
- other damage
Terrie
In high school, Terrie was a pretty cheerleader who competed on the cheer circuit. Her father smoked, and with more and more of her friends smoking, Terrie soon found herself lighting up in social settings. Eventually she was smoking up to two packs a day.
In 2001, at the age of 40, Terrie was diagnosed with oral cancer, and later that same year, with throat cancer. Doctors informed her that they would need to remove her larynx. It was then that she quit smoking for good. Terrie spoke with the aid of an artificial voice box that was inserted in her throat. She continued to battle cancer with a strong, positive spirit. Terrie died September 16, 2013 from smoking-related cancer. She was 53.
Shawn
Fourteen-year-old Shawn was only trying to make friends and fit in at a new school when he started taking cigarettes from his father. But more than 30 years later he was still smoking, and the damage to his body was taking its toll.
Shawn was in his mid-forties when a chronic cough and laryngitis turned out to be throat cancer. He endured 38 radiation treatments and hours at the doctor's office and finally quit smoking—but doctors were unable to save his larynx. He now has a stoma (opening) that allows him to breathe and a laryngeal implant that allows him to speak.