Disadvantages Of Smoking


Smoking does harm the person smoking and second hand affects everyone around the smokers. Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemicals and they will cause diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease. Lung cancer is one of the top killer diseases in Hong Kong. A research says that about half of all long-term smokers will die early from tobacco
related illness. (Reference: people die in smoking-related diseases each year). Smoking also affects appearance, it can cause yellow teeth, yellow nails, dry skin and bad breath etc. Cigarettes are costly, teenagers should have spent those money on education instead. Moreover, many places have banned smoking in Hong Kong which means smoking might have caused inconvenience for them.

Why do they smoke?
Teens crave attention and by smoking, they can act like they are the ‘cool’ ones and get huge attention from people around them. Also, the curiosity makes them try to smoke. Teenagers think smoking is likely to make them more socially accepted, to look more mature so more friends will be attracted to them. Also, smoking is more alluring to them when their parents don’t allow them to do so. Especially when Hong Kong parents are very strict in general. Some people become smokers as a result of experiment. (Reference to show nicotine is an addictive drug). Some teens might smoke to seek security and to distress themselves from school work. Research showed that Hong Kong students’ stress level has reached a upsetting level (Ming Pao 2010) This is one of the reasons why the problem of teenage smoking is getting serious.