Smoking health problems associated with

Although there are more than 4000 different components in cigarettes nicotine has been identified as a key contributor to the long-term health problems associated with smoking. 

Because of these various problems associated with diesel smoke and particulate, control programs have been underway for many years. This next section will review the history of these programs to date. In general, one can note that the initial focus was on smoke control because it was clearly visible and a nuisance. As the evidence has grown in recent years regarding the serious health and environmental problems, more attention has focused on control of the particles themselves. 

Major morbidity in the United States is currently centered on diseases of life style. These morbidities contrast sharply with disease patterns prevalent during the early part of the 20th century. Outside of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, infectious diseases represent a small proportion of prevalent morbidity. Rather, lifestyle diseases, associated with smoking, poor nutrition, a sedentary life style, alcohol and other chemical consumption, homicides, suicides, and accidents, represent the majority of morbidity in the United States. Significant preventive strategies can markedly reduce the incidence, prevalence, and mortality associated with these health care problems. 

By the end of the 1960s, awareness was growing throughout Europe of the health and environmental problems that could be associated with not only smoke, dust, and soot, but other air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. The idea that air pollution was a matter that required national government intervention was slowly gaining acceptance across Western Europe. 

Safe work practices for ethylene oxide fall into two areas (1) the normal practices associated with the use of a flammable gas and (2) health practices needed to reduce exposures to the vapors. For the former set of problems and the more common health problems, the procedures are relatively straightforward, the same as for other chemicals with similar properties keep ignition sources and reactive materials away from the material do not smoke, eat, or drink in the are and wear personal protective equipment (goggles, gloves, respiratory protection, and protective clothing) as needed to prevent exposure. 

Creation of dangerous waste materials by business activities is certainly not a new phenomenon. The Love Canal incident in the 1970s (unfortunately involving a company associated with plastics—the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation) is a reminder of the potential seriousness of the problem. In this and in numerous other cases chemical wastes were discharged into a body of water with the assumption that wastes will be readily diluted below a certain threshold concentration at which the pollutant posed no significant health risks. It is the same assumption behind the use of smoke stacks to control air emissions. When biological or physical mechanisms inadvertently concentrate the... 

The association of smoking with health problems is almost as old as the use of tobacco. In 1604, King James I of England issued the first... 

Human obesity has been declared to be one of the most significant health problems in modern times with over 500 million people being overweight. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing several serious diseases including hypertension, coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, and cancer. Obesity increases the likelihood of mortality by 20% and recently surpassed smoking as the munber one cause of death [147,148]. 

Environmental exposures are present through the human lifetime. However, they may vary considerably over time at the same location, for example, because of the local or global changes in emission and environmental pollution levels. Environmental exposures of humans consist of exposures outdoors and indoors as well as at workplaces these environments may significantly differ. The exposure media include air, water, and soil and dust. Historically, research on human exposures to chemicals and associated health effects has been conducted mostly on single chemicals. In addition, several studies have dealt with complex mixtures, such as diesel fuel and gasoline, by-products from coal combustion, and tobacco smoke. A common problem of complex mixtures is that the composition may vary from one exposure to another and, as a result, the associated toxicity may vary. For a better understanding... 

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