Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK and harms the planet too.

Smoking causes around 7 out of every 10 cases of lung cancer (70%). Smoking also causes cancer in many other parts of the body, including the:

1. mouth
2. throat
3. voice box (larynx)
4. oesophagus (the tube between your mouth and stomach)
5. bladder
6. bowel
7. cervix
8. kidney
9. liver
10. stomach
11. pancreas

Smoking damages your heart and your blood circulation, increasing your risk of developing conditions such as:

1. coronary heart disease 
2. heart attack
3. stroke
4. peripheral vascular disease (damaged blood vessels)
5. cerebrovascular disease (damaged arteries that supply blood to your brain)

Smoking damages your lungs, leading to conditions such as:

1. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which incorporates bronchitis and emphysema 
2. pneumonia 
3. Smoking can also worsen or prolong the symptoms of respiratory conditions such as asthma, or respiratory tract infections such as the common cold.

Health risks of passive smoking
Secondhand smoke comes from the tip of a lit cigarette and the smoke that the smoker breathes out.

Breathing in secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoking, increases your risk of getting the same health conditions as smokers.

For example, if you have never smoked but you have a spouse who smokes, your risk of developing lung cancer increases by about a quarter.

Babies and children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke.

A child who's exposed to passive smoke is at increased risk of developing chest infections, meningitis, a persistent cough and, if they have asthma, their symptoms will get worse.

They're also at increased risk of cot death and an ear infection called glue ear.

Health risks of smoking for reproduction/fertility

In men, smoking can cause impotence because it limits the blood supply to the penis.

It can also reduce the fertility of both men and women.

If you smoke when you're pregnant, you put your unborn baby's health at risk, as well as your own. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of complications such as:

1. miscarriage 
2. premature (early) birth
3. a low birth weight baby
4. stillbirth 

Smoking and Planet

1. Smoking adds to the air pollution as it contaminates the fresh air that all living beings need
2. Tobacco used in cigarettes is grown as a mono-crop. This means that large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are used when growing it depleting our rich soils with chemicals
3. Large number of forests are needed to grow tobacco used in cigarettes. This occurs both to provide land for the growing of tobacco, but also to supply wood which is burned during the flue-curing process many tobaccos go through. In total, it’s estimated that 200,000 hectares of land are cleared annually to make room for tobacco cultivation.

4. Cigarette butts are one of the most littered items throughout the world, with an estimated 4 trillion butts littered across the world each year. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable, but they do break into smaller pieces under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Cigarette butts also leach chemicals such as nicotine, arsenic, heavy metals and others like ethylphenol into the environment. As well as the direct effects on animals who ingest the cigarette butts, the chemicals released into the environment can indirectly damage animals, particularly marine animals. This is more serious because even cigarettes thrown onto the street far away from bodies of water can get swept into drains and find their way into the water system.

Despite all these issues, the number of smokers in UK continues to grow.

We may not be able to stop people who are already addicted to smoking habits. But let us atleast protect our next generations from suffering the dangerous consequences of ingesting this toxic chemical.

Please sign the petition to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to all future adults. By raising the age limit to purchase cigarettes every year, this can be easily achieved and all future generations will be able to live a much healthier and happier life.