There is no way to discuss the importance of air and your lungs without discussing the vile, stinking, filthy, offensive, hurtful, anti-life, anti-natural habit of smoking, as emotionally, creatively, intellectually, and spiritually injurious as it is physically. There are not enough nasty words in the English language to characterize the putrid, depraved language too strong to condemn this habit of self-destruction, suffering, and premature death. How has something so inherently bad, so horrendously harmful, so completely and totally devoid of any vale whatsoever become such a common addiction for so many millions of people? This is a human tragedy of monumental proportions. How sad that such a deadly practice should be so passive among the populations of the world. Are people so disgusted with themselves that they would deliberately destroy their own bodies? Our creator saw it fit to bestow the precious gift of life. Is it an appropriate showing of gratitude to inflict such hellish ravages on that gift? A thousand people die of tobacco-related illnesses every day in the United States alone. That is more than seven times as many people as die in motor vehicle crashes. More people die every year because of tobacco than the total number of Americans killed in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined! I don’t know about you, but that shocks me to the core. Worldwide 2 to 2.5 million people die a year, that’s more than 6000 people a day! In an editorial in their journal in 1986, the American Medical Association opened a scathing attack on tobacco companies, calling them "vultures seeking to create addicts hooked on their products". (The American Lung Association calls them "merchants of death") If spreading this addiction is a goal these "vultures", should be real proud of themselves. Former President, Jimmy Carter, referring to cigarettes as the greatest menace to public health, stated, "I think there is a deliberate commitment on the part of the tobacco industry to cause death for profit". There are now some 54 million smokers in the United States, some 75 percent of whom are considered to be addicted to this vile narcotic. Of course, when people hear the word addicted, they tend to think of heroin of alcohol or some other dangerous drug. According to Dr. William Poland, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, tobacco has far worse addictive potential than alcohol or heroin. In fact, he says that tobacco may be as much as eight times deadlier than excessive use of alcohol and is far more resistant to successful treatment than heroin addiction, which is also less likely to be fatal than tobacco use. Dr. Poland has called for recognition of tobacco use as far deadlier than any other dangerous drug. Heaven only knows to what extent disease and ill health can be attributed to smoking. But what is known reads like a horror story - a horrible horror story: cancer, heart disease, emphysema, bronchitis, spontaneous abortions, fatal death, birth defects, ulcers, damage to DNA, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, infertility in women, impotence in men, dried up testicles, pathological increase in the heart rate and subsequent damage to the heart, constriction and even total collapse of blood vessels, numbness of hands and arms, marked increase in stomach acidity, crippling of taste bud, and massive destruction of vital cells from the lips to the lungs. Tobacco smoke is much hotter than hot food. It wipes out cells and taste buds wholesale. Ever notice how much salt and pepper smokers use? Its because they can’t taste their food. These condiments further irritate the lining of the mouth, lips, tongue, gums, cheeks, throat. The latest findings suggest that smoking may even contribute to Alzheimer’s disease in people as young as forty eight. Sound inviting?

The tobacco companies pull in more than $20 billion a year selling a product that causes incalculable pain, suffering, anguish, and death. No wonder the A.M.A. calls them "vultures". And to think that less than seventy five years ago many physicians did not consider smoking harmful. Note this statement made by a Brooklyn medical doctor in 1913: "The history of human experience as well as exhaustive investigations conducted by men highly trained in scientific research point to the fact that the moderate use of tobacco is not harmful to either the body or the mind". Compare this to the open-eyed realism of Dr. Russell T. Trall, a medical doctor turned Natural Hygienist, who, recognizing the extreme danger of tobacco, dedicated the entirety of one of the books he wrote out assailing its use. (This was in 1857).

Cigarette smoke contains more than 3000 chemical substances, and a few of them deserve mentioning.

ACROLEIN A toxic, colourless liquid with irritating cancerous vapours.

CARBON MONOXIDE A highly toxic, flammable gas used in the manufacture of numerous chemical products. Inhalation of carbon monoxide interferes with the transportation of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, where it is required.

NICOTINE A poisonous alkaloid that is the chief addictive substance in tobacco. It is also used as an insecticide and to kill parasitic worms in animals. One pack of cigarettes a day, inhaled, gives you enough nicotine to kill you outright if you were to receive it all in one dose.

AMMONIA A gaseous alkaline compound of nitrogen and hydrogen used as a coolant in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment and in explosives, artificial fertilizers, and disinfectants.

FORMIC ACID A pungent liquid gas used in processing textiles and leather. Exposure to the acid irritates the mucous membranes and causes blistering.

HYDROGEN CYANIDEAn extremely poisonous liquid in many chemical processes including fumigation, and in the case hardening of iron and steel. Hydrogen cyanide gas is used as the lethal agent in capital punishment.

FORMALDEHYDE A pungent gas used as a disinfectant and preservative. It is extremely irritating to the mucus membranes.

PHENAL A caustic, poisonous acidic compound present in coal and wood tar and used in disinfectants.

ACETALDEHYDE A highly toxic, flammable liquid that irritates the eyes and mucus membranes and accelerated the action of the heart. Prolonged exposure causes blood pressure to rise and causes proliferation of white and red blood cells.

HYDROGEN SULFIDE A poisonous gas produced naturally from putrefying matter and used extensively in chemical laboratories.

PYRIDYNE A flammable liquid used in pharmaceuticals, water repellents, bactericides and herbicides.

METHYL CHOLRIDE A toxic gas used in the production of rubber and paint remover and as an antiknock agent in gasoline.

ACENTONITRILE A toxic gas compound found in coal tar and molasses residue and used in the production of plastics, rubber,acrylic fibre, insecticides, and perfumes.

PROPIONALDEHYDE A colourless liquid with a suffocating odour, used as a chemical disinfectant and preservative as well as in plastic and rubber.

METHANOL A poisonous liquid alcohol used in automotive anti freezes, rocket fuel, synthetic dye stuffs, resin, drugs and perfumes.

AND Let’s not forget ARSENIC !

All these chemicals in the body create untold dangers. Dr. Paul Erlich, Professor of Biological Science at Stanford University, has stated that almost half a million tests would have to be conducted just to determine the effect of any two chemicals in conjunction with each other in the body. Technology capable of determining the harm of sixteen at one time doesn’t exist.

Ever notice some of the ads the tobacco industry used to hook more women into smoking? Its always a picture of some superic, ultrasvelte beauty having the time of her life. (For obvious reasons, they won’t show a picture of someone in the middle of a coughing spasm hacking up a chunk of diseased lung.) Ever notice that the ads never show the evil weed on her lips? She’s always holding it ever so delicately, as if it were some cherished possession. Know why? Because the sight of a cigarette dangling of a woman’s lip is so offensive that the advertising rule is not to show it. For some strange reason however, to show out dangling of a man’s lips is supposed to be "macho"..... that is, until he’s had his voice box removed and has to talk through a tube stuck in his throat.

One sight never ceases to amaze me. It’s usually in an airport. I see a very, very well dressed, beautifully turned-out woman, impeccably stylish, with hair and makeup done flawlessly-obviously a lot of time and effort went into looking just so. And you know those standing ashtrays that are all over airports? They’re about two feet high, round, about ten inches across, with a big hole in the top in which to deposit ashes and butts. Remember the smell when you get close enough? Right. We’re talking about one of the foulest stenches possible - something like a dead goat that has been decomposing for a couple of weeks. This exquisitely turned out woman goes over to one of these and pulls it over to so she can flick the ashes from the cigarette she just lit up.

So pretty on the outside, with not even one hair in her eyebrow turning in the wrong direction, and she voluntarily drags one of these foul, stinking containers full of filth over to her. It is just like stopping on the highway to pick up a dead skunk that has been run over and then stuffing it down your shirt. Hours spent being sure the exterior is perfect while assaulting the inside with cancerous poisons.

The above contents are from Harvey and Marilyn Diamonds Book Living Health (Bantam Books)