How can smoking affect you health?
Tobacco products, including cigarettes, are dangerous and addictive. There is overwhelming medical and scientific evidence that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and other serious diseases. All tobacco products are addictive. It can be very difficult to quit smoking, but this should not deter smokers who want to quit from trying to do so.
Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of death. The secondary school age is a critical period in the formation of the smoking habit. Most smokers start smoking during their adolescence or early adult years. The earlier they start to smoke, the more likely they are to become regular smokers. Those concerned about the health, welfare and education of young people should be anxious to find ways to prevent them from taking up this habit.
Smoking is a major problem among youth in Kazakhstan. Schooling is the major activity of most children between the ages of 7 and 17 years and school is the place where most of them socialize outside their home environment for the first time. A school is the place where much knowledge is obtained, attitudes are formed and sometimes habits are chosen. Studies have demonstrated that the secondary school age is a critical period in the formation of the smoking habit. Experimenting with cigarettes often begins during childhood or early adolescence and there is usually a period of about 1.5 to 2 years between initiation of smoking and establishment of the smoking habit. Public health officials of Kazakhstan have concluded that secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious diseases in non-smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease. We believe the public health conclusions on secondhand smoke are sufficient to support smoking restrictions in public places.
