For more than 50 years, the evidence has grown showing that the use of tobacco products or exposure to tobacco smoke damages the human body with deadly consequences. Predictions based on large population studies indicate that one half of all long term smokers, particularly those who began smoking in adolescence, will evidentially die from their use of tobacco (Rockville, 2010).
Cigarette smoke consists of several chemical compounds with variety of effects in many organs. In the lung, the main cause of COPD, carcinoma and idiopathic spontaneous pneumotheorax (Antonella et al., 2012).
Components of cigarette smoke individually and in combination processes that lead to cancer causation, as well as critical cellular pathways that further growth and development of transformed cells (Rockville, 2010).
Chronic bronchitis and emphysema usually occur in current or former smokers. Current smokers are up to 10 times more likely to have the disease than non smokers (AIHW, 2005).
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