Search results
Browse 54,146 authentic smoking cigarettes stock photos, high-res images, and pictures, or explore additional people smoking cigarettes or stop smoking cigarettes stock images to find the right photo at the right size and resolution for your project.
- Overview
- Smoking and health
smoking, the act of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning plant material. A variety of plant materials are smoked, including marijuana and hashish, but the act is most commonly associated with tobacco as smoked in a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. Tobacco contains nicotine, an alkaloid that is addictive and can have both stimulating and tranquilizi...
At the dawn of the 20th century, the most common tobacco products were cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco. The mass production of cigarettes was in its infancy, although cigarette smoking was beginning to increase dramatically. According to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1888), tobacco products were suspected of producing some adverse health effects, yet tobacco was also considered to have medicinal properties. Many scholars and health professionals of the day advocated tobacco’s use for such effects as improved concentration and performance, relief of boredom, and enhanced mood.
By the dawn of the 21st century, in stark contrast, tobacco had become recognized as being highly addictive and one of the world’s most-devastating causes of death and disease. Moreover, because of the rapid increase in smoking in developing countries in the late 20th century, the number of smoking-related deaths per year was projected to rise rapidly in the 21st century. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in the late 1990s there were approximately four million tobacco-caused deaths per year worldwide. This estimate was increased to approximately five million in 2003 and six million in 2011 and was expected to reach eight million per year by 2030. An estimated 80 percent of those deaths were projected to occur in developing countries. Indeed, although tobacco use was declining in many countries of western Europe and North America and in Australia, it continued to increase in countries of Asia, Africa, and South America.
The primary cause of the escalation in the number of deaths and incidents of disease from tobacco is the large increase in cigarette smoking during the 20th century. During that time cigarette smoking grew to account for approximately 80 percent of the world’s tobacco market. Nonetheless, all tobacco products are toxic and addictive. In some regions of the world, the use of smokeless tobacco products is a major health concern.
Tobacco products are manufactured with various additives to preserve the tobacco’s shelf life, alter its burning characteristics, control its moisture content, inhibit the hatching of insect eggs that may be present in the plant material, mask the irritative effects of nicotine, and provide any of a wide array of flavours and aromas. The smoke produced when tobacco and these additives are burned consists of more than 4,000 chemical compounds. Many of these compounds are highly toxic, and they have diverse effects on health.
The primary constituents of tobacco smoke are nicotine, tar (the particulate residue from combustion), and gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Although nicotine can be poisonous at very high dosages, its toxic effect as a component of tobacco smoke is generally considered modest compared with that of many other toxins in the smoke. The main health effect of nicotine is its addictiveness. Carbon monoxide has profound, immediate health effects. It passes easily from the lungs into the bloodstream, where it binds to hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that is responsible for the transfer of oxygen in the body. Carbon monoxide displaces oxygen on the hemoglobin molecule and is removed only slowly. Therefore, smokers frequently accumulate high levels of carbon monoxide, which starves the body of oxygen and puts an enormous strain on the entire cardiovascular system.
Are you a student? Get Britannica Premium for only 24.95 - a 67% discount!
Jul 31, 2023 · Tobacco fact sheet from WHO providing key facts and information on surveillance, second-hand smoke, quitting, picture warnings, ad bans, taxes, WHO response.
Browse 78,269 authentic tobacco smoking stock photos, high-res images, and pictures, or explore additional lung cancer or anti smoking stock images to find the right photo at the right size and resolution for your project.
The earliest depictions of smoking can be found on Classical Mayan pottery from around the 9th century. The art was primarily religious in nature and depicted deities or rulers smoking early forms of cigarettes. Soon after smoking was introduced outside of the Americas it began appearing in painting in Europe and Asia.
Browse 55,383 authentic smoking cigarette stock photos, high-res images, and pictures, or explore additional chef smoking cigarette or man smoking cigarette stock images to find the right photo at the right size and resolution for your project.
Browse 165,500+ smoking cigarette stock photos and images available, or search for woman smoking cigarette outside or smoking cigarette white background to find more great stock photos and pictures.
People also ask
How many smoking cigarettes stock photos are there?
What is smoking a cigarette?
Why do people smoke a cigarette?
What is a cigarette made out of?
