Why smoking can be no less damaging

A possible reason why the warning, “Smoking is injurious to health”, does not act as an adequate deterrent is that the practice appears harmless at first if only because it does not arouse the kind of parental opposition which alcohol or narcotics do. Yet, over the long run, smoking can be no less damaging than the other two. It is also an addiction which is extremely difficult to shed. Hence, Mark Twain’s celebrated quip: It is easy to give up smoking; I have given it up many times.

But, as recent studies have shown, smoking is responsible for a gradual mental decline, imperceptible at first but ultimately irreversible, which includes loss of memory — which is initially ascribed to the aging process — followed by an inability to connect past events with the current ones and a decline of cognitive skills. These studies are based on data acquired over 25 years. Their value is undeniable. A matter-of-fact and yet chilling observation of the researchers was that the link between smoking and cognition was likely to be underestimated, particularly among the elderly, because of the higher risk of death among the smokers.

As it is, smoking carries a “risk factor” equivalent to 10 years of aging in the rate of cognitive decline. As the chief of neurology in an American hospital said, smoking is “bad for your brain”. But, even before a smoker’s mental decline becomes apparent, the person can suffer from a heart attack or a stroke because of the known links between smoking and hypertension. No less alarming are the higher risks of lung cancer or cancers of the larynx and the mouth to which a smoker is susceptible. Despite these known dangers, the present official and non-official efforts to discourage smoking are wholly inadequate. Since the habit is usually acquired in early age, mostly under peer pressure, it is for the schools and colleges to highlight the dangers of smoking with the parents playing a leading role.