this is my journal. a try for research paper.

the risk of smoking

introduction to tabacoo smoke

Tobacco smoke is a complex mixture of several thousand chemical compounds – some in tiny quantities – that are the product of burning the ingredients of the tobacco product. These include particulates (tar) of sticky solids, gases such as carbon monoxide, and volatiles. Most importantly, the smoke contains nicotine – the addictive drug. This mixture is constantly changing as the smoke ‘ages’ - chemicals in the smoke and background atmosphere react with each other and change under the effect of ultra-violet light. The chemical composition changes over time.

how many chemicals contained in tobacco somke

It is often said that “smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals” . But what does this number actually mean? It may be that 4,000 have been identified in smoke, but numbers like this are easily misunderstood. How many chemicals are present depends on where one draws a line of relevance – how much has to be present before the chemical is counted? Obviously the line could be drawn at the single molecule, in which case many more than 4,000 detected might be present - most undetectable with lab instruments.

chemical effect of tabacco somke

The number of chemicals itself is not really important - what matters is the toxicity of the chemicals and how much of the toxic chemicals are present. Smoke would be more harmful with a smaller number of more harmful chemicals in greater concentrations.

two types of smoking

1. Mainstream smoke: this is the smoke created when the smoker draws on the cigarette and inhales.

2. Sidestream smoke: this is the smoke created as the cigarette smoulders while not being inhaled.

Both types of smoke end up in the atmosphere around the smoker but they differ in chemical composition – primarily because the mainstream smoke is formed at a higher temperature and may be filtered as it passes through the cigarette and body.

anti-smoking law in China

The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Thursday (Oct 19th) approved a law entitled the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2005, which will take effect on January 1, 2007. In other places of China, people do not have restriction on smoking. They can smoke wherever they want.

the present condition in China

As mentioned, there is no anti-smoking law in China, except Hongkong. For most part of China, people are free to smoke. Due to the cheap price of cigarette, smoking is not even a burden to most of the Chinese families. In this case, the population of smoking remains at the same level. However, i think government should try to reduce the smoking population. Exclude political policies, some economical policies would make sense. For instance, adding a tax to the cigarette producers. The tax makes cigarettes to be less profitbale and it would cause producers to move into other industries. The amount of cigarette being produced would certainly decrease. therefore, less people would suffer from the danger of smoking.