My Reflection on my Blog..

My name is Jessica Gilbert and my blog site was about the harmful effects of cigarettes. I really think that this is a big issue because I have numerous of friends and family members who smoke. Smoking is a deadly habit that a lot of people enjoy. Most people think that there is a safe way to smoke. They think that if they smoke once a week or low tar cigarettes that this act decreases the chance of them getting cancer or having lung problems. As you read that statement isn't necessarily true. The smoker still gets the full effect as if they were smoking on a regular cigarette. Even though I only had to do three blogs I feel that I provided a lot of information within my three blog posts. Whether its cigarettes or weed they are both harmful to your lungs. I understand that both relieve stress but while relieving stress you are creating more. A smoker may think that smoking relieves stress but ten years down the line the smoker finds out that they have lung cancer. Then the smoker stresses more because they have a bodily disease that is often discovered later on in a smokers life.

This blog site is a very creative way to make people read about the importance's of life without it being boring. Anyone can write a boring article, but I feel that creating a blog is a more interesting way to provide information. I like the whole blog project because it was a new experience for me and I realized that blogs are a useful source of information. They are not only good for friendly comments but they are also good for providing the reader with great and useful information. I really liked the comments of my teachers and peers they really showed me that they understood my blog and it was interesting to them.

Thank you all..

Current Events

A current event about cigarettes is about a study done on low tar cigarettes. The risk of lung cancer is no different in people who smoke medium tar cigarettes, low tar cigarettes, or very low tar cigarettes, concludes new research from the United States. Researchers analyzed the relation between the tar rating of the brand of cigarette smoked in 1982 and death from lung cancer over six years among 364,239 men and 576,535 women aged 30 years or more. Irrespective of the tar level of their current brand, all current smokers had a far greater risk of lung cancer than people who had never smoked or who had quit. Men and women who smoked very low tar (7 mg or less) and low tar (8-14 mg) brands had risks of lung cancer indistinguishable from those who smoked medium tar (15-21 mg) brands. This pattern did not change after demographic factors, dietary habits, and occupational and medical histories were taken into account. Men and women who smoked non-filtered cigarettes with tar ratings of 22 mg or more had even higher risks of lung cancer.

These findings are consistent with other evidence that people smoke low tar cigarettes more intensively, and challenge the assumption that the link between tar rating and lung cancer risk is necessarily linear, say the authors. They suggest that reducing the use of high tar non-filter cigarettes may provide limited public health benefits in those countries where these products are commonly used. There have been numerous occasions recently of smokers going to the hospital with lung problems from smoking cigarettes. When asked did they smoke the patients responded "Yes I do, but they are low tar cigarettes." The doctor then explained to them that there was no difference in the two cigarettes because the smoker would still get the same effect. There is no difference in the lung cancer both kinds of cigarettes will give you.

History of Cigarettes

There is an interesting history(www.cigarettes-below-cost.com/historyofcigarettes.html) to the start of tobacco. It goes all the way back to a plant in the nightshade family, which also includes potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and chili peppers. It may have been cultivated in the Peruvian Andes as far back as 5000 BC. The first documented tobacco users were the Maya, who flourished in Central America between 1500 BC and AD 900. By the time Columbus showed up in 1492, tobacco and its use had spread throughout the Americas. Native Americans valued tobacco's medicinal properties. It can both stimulate and tranquilize the smoker. Native American shamans weren't gathering for a puff in the parlor. They took tobacco in doses large enough to produce hallucinations, trances, or even death. It's hard to smoke your way to a dose that large, so they used other methods: chewing tobacco leaves, drinking tobacco tea, snorting tobacco snuff, or even taking tobacco enemas. This was a foolish way to achieve a pointless goal. This shows how from the beginning tobacco and nicotine has had no purpose of being concumed by the human body.

Tobacco started to take off when Columbus returned to the Old World, he took tobacco with him. By the 16th century, Europe had acquired a taste for this new "wonder drug" even though Europeans were more likely to smoke cigars than take tobacco enemas. Tobacco has had an interesting beginning and a even brighter future. Tobacco is one of the most successful legal drugs there is today. Tobacco sells increase every year by at least 2.5 percent. This is crazy because how come we dont have enough money for healthcare but there is all this money going towards a killing habit. Every year money goes towards activities and it seems like the important things like healthcare and charities end up with the short end of the stick. How can we as a nation spend so much money on an foolishness. There is so much money being spent wrong. Tobacco sells thousands of cigarettes to millions of people each year and it is saddening.

Credible vs Non- Credible Sources

A source that has been a non credible source has been Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a non credible source because that kind of website lets anyone post their input to any topic even if they don't know anything about that particular topic. That means that a twelve year old kid could comment about heart surgery and how to perform it if he chose to. On another note there are lots of professors and specialist who post there knowledge on Wikipedia. On a site like this one you have to know the real specialist from the fakes. This is the type of source that allows anyone to express their feelings and knowledge of a certain issue or blog. I don't think that this is a credible source because for example, I read a blog on Wikipedia about breast implants and at first the comments were very factual and towards the end the comments went from factual to ridiculous. Towards the end they started talking about breast implants and when they were going to get them. Also how they would dress their implants up. This is the result of a non credible source.

A credible source that I found is http://www.pwc.k12.nf.ca/PROJECTS/b2201/moore/smoking/index.html. This source is a very good source to use because it only has professional articles and sources to back up the articles. So the reader could research on the background of the authors of the articles. On this website I found out that Ammonia is a toxic colorless gas with a very sharp odor. I also learned that Nicotine comes in two forms:acid(bound) and base (free). In tobacco smoke, free nicotine molecules vaporize more easily than bound nicotine molecules. Once nicotine vaporizes into a gas, it is quickly absorbed by the lungs and distributed throughout the human body. The tobacco companies know that ammonia is a key factor to enhancing the effect of their drug. So they discovered that adding ammonia to the cigarette manufacturing process helps convert bound nicotine molecules in tobacco smoke into free nicotine molecules. This process is known as "freebasing." Similar to the chemical process of freebasing cocaine, the end result is an enhanced effect of the drug on the user. This is an enhancement risk of cancer and lung failure. It is an enhanced chance at death. This is a credible source to me because it is accurate.

Dangers of Cigarettes...

Cigarettes are a well known drug around the world. There are number of excuses as to why people smoke them. "They help me relieve my stress. They relax my nerves. Everyone else is doing it." There are hundreds of reasons why people smoke. But when smokers health start failing or their lungs collapse nobody seems to know the reason except for the doctors. Cigarettes are cancer in stick form. They contain ammonia which is used in toilet cleaners. They also contain tar which is used in construction. Tar goes into the lungs and clogs the air ways which cause shortness of breathe and lung failure. It contains nicotine which is a drug used to stimulate the nerves and is also very addictive.

Some smokers think well I will just smoke the LIGHT brand of the cigarettes but what they dont realize is that even though the cigarette has lighter amounts of the harmful ingredients the smoker tends to suck harder onto the cigarette which is giving them the same effect as if smoking a regular cigarette. So either way there is no way to smoke and be completely healthy.