Complications with smoking

For years, many have been aware of the personal dangers of smoking. They have known that smoking can cause different types of cancer and can complicate other health problems. But what many have yet to realize is that their decision to smoke doesn’t just hurt them, but it hurts society.

In this article – published by HealthDay News – some of these costs and the approach that New Mexico is using to deal with these costs are discussed. The issue at hand is that second hand smoke does not just cause problems for people, it also causes environmental and wildlife concerns. And the main objective of New Mexico’s program is to send this message to children before they start to smoke.

The program involves taking injured birds (hawks, owls, falcons) to middle school classrooms once a week and showing the students the effects that human actions have had on the health of these animals. These birds suffer from a variety of problems caused by human action. One of the birds died of lung cancer; another suffers from birth defects believed to be caused by toxins, while a third bird suffers from a broken wing caused by the pesticide DDT. DDT causes a thinning of the bird’s egg shells and increased birth defects if not death.

The students learn about the lives of these animals and how their personal actions can lead to either make things better or worse for them. The program is hoping to connect with these students through the use of the birds; making them aware that there are other costs of smoking besides personal risk and the price of cigarettes.

Do you think this program will work? Should other states set up similar programs? Is there a more efficient way to go about decreasing the number of smokers in the United States?