Tobacco

Tobacco was a big hit when it first came out many years ago. Back then, tobacco companies were able to advertise their products. No one seemed to know the harmful effects that tobacco has on a person's health, societal health, money, and government. Now, so many negative effects of tobacco are known, and the use of tobacco is being greatly discouraged.

Tobacco is so addicting because it contains the chemical nicotine. Short-term effects include an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and the flow of blood from the heart. Arteries narrow, and the amount of oxygen in demand to the amount of oxygen present is not equal. People experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. Smoking also causes a person to have a change in their appetite. The tar from the tobacco will start its build-up within the lungs. Your hair, breath, and clothes begin to smell. Teeth start getting black specks. Even just using tobacco for a short period of time causes damage to a person's personal health.

Tobacco's long-term effects include: tobacco will not only eventually cause lung cancer, but it can cause cancer of the mouth, nose, voice box, throat, bladder, somach, kidney, liver, pancreas, esophagus, uterine cervix, and acute myeloid leukemia. People that do not smoke but are around those who do may suffer health problems from the secondhand smoke. Nearly 3,000 non-smoking adults die from lung cancer every year because of the secondhand smoke. Soon, the smoker's lungs are black from the tar, and the suffer from respiratory diseases like bronchitis or emphysema. Your brain can be effected from using tobacco. Blood could clot and cause a stroke; fat deposits develop in arteries around the heart and cause a heart attack. Don't forget the changes in appearance that occur also. Teeth become tinged yellow, a smoker's face could become gaunt looking, and it seems as though you permanently reek of the smoke that comes with tobacco. There are many more effects from tobacco that result from long-term use.

Tobacco users' societal health will also suffer. When an individual begins their habits, they are probably hanging around a new crowd of people. Their old friends are probably the ones who frown upon tobacco users and are only thinking for the best of their friend when they try to stop them. Basically, people who do not approve of tobacco use or do not want to risk the chance of becoming addicted themselves or ill from secondhand smoke will begin to alienate themselves from the tobacco users. Tension may occur between a couple or family members because they do not like to see their precious child, mother, father, or spouse killing themselves. Just by beginning to use tobacco, relationships that used to be strong and healthy may no longer be that way or even exist at all.

Smokers do not risk their health just by smoking; they risk their lives because they could end up poverty-stricken. Buying the tobacco is not the only way a person loses money because of tobacco. Insurance for smokers is more expensive, they have to spend more on dry cleaning and teeth cleaning, and they even lose money on the resale value of their homes and vehicles. In the end, smokers do not receive as much in Social Security benefits or in pension. Although money may be tight as it is because you need to buy a pack of cigarettes a day, some workplaces are no longer hiring those who smoke. Some places could even end up firing their employees because they tak too many "smoke breaks." 5% of companies prefer to hire those who do not smoke, and 1% of companies just do not hire smokers at all. If all companies began denying smokers jobs, they would have no choice but to quit smoking or live in poverty. Tobacco products are no where near being cheap, and hopefully in th future, moeny constraints and the lack of jobs for smokers/tobacco users will cause everyone to quit smoking.

Right now, the issue of legalizing drugs is a big debate. People who are for the legalization of drugs are citing the legal use of tobacco as an excuse. Just because tobacco i still legal definitely does not mean the other drugs should be too. Governments also have to keep making and passing new laws regarding tobacco use because of the new evidence found that tobacco has major health problems. To make it easier on themselves, our national government should take a step towards improving the health of its people.

I personally feel that tobacco use should be illegal. Reading about all the health risks and deaths that occur every year because of tobacco use is really astounding. Tobacco use is not bad for just the people who make the conscious decision to use it, but it also harms the people just walking by. Secondhand smoke can be nearly as harmful as mainstream smoke, and no passing individual asked the smoker to blow a puff of cigarette smoke in their face. I have also had personal experience with losing people to tobacco use. My grandpa suffered a stroke, most likely from all the tobacco he used. Keeping tobacco use legal just seems to be an extra hassle for government officials who have to consider new laws to please the non-smoking public. When our economy is so horrible, I think there are better ways a person can spend their money. Buying tobacco has to be the biggest waste of $5-ish/pack I have ever heard of. If you bought a pack a day, it would cost $1,825/year plus the tax on each pack!! I just know that even if tobacco remains legal for the rest of my life, I will never use any form of tobacco.

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/drug_guide/Tobacco
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2x_Tobacco-Related_Cancers_Fact_Sheet.asp?sitearea=PED
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/health_effects/respiratory/index.htm
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHealth/HighCostOfSmoking.aspx
http://www.con-suming.com/Tobacco/should_tobacco_be_legal.htm
http://consumerissues.cas.psu.edu/PDFs/TobaccoCostsAdult.pdf

Too Young to be a Dad

In this generation, there are many reasons to why people feel pressure to have sex. For boys, the pressure mainly comes from their friends. It seems to me that guys have a tough guy persona around their friends. Sometimes, these guys will do anything to keep that persona and impress their friends, even if it means having sex. If a teen boys has an older brother, he may hear and see his brother talking about or acting as if sex is what the older kids do ll the time. This puts the idea in the younger brother's mind that if my big brother is doing, then I should be doing it, too.

For girls, I think the pressure to have sex comes from their partner. To the boys, sex may not be as big of a deal as it is to girls. Girls tend to be more emotional and think of things differently. They most likely think of their first time as being something special with the person they love. But boys just want to impress their friends or prove they are as smooth with the ladies as they brag to be. Also, some girls have friends that pressure them into having sex. Usually though, girls have supportive friends that do not force them into a situation, yet instead, they help her choose the right decisions.

Also, the media plays a huge role in teens' lives. Nowadays, everyone seems to watch TV in their spare time or browse the internet. In movies, TV shows, and ads on the side bars of some websites, sex is being promoted or shown as a casual and harmless activity. This reference makes teens believe it is okay and safe, nothing to be worried about. Shows like Gossip Girl or The O.C. show the characters having sex with a friend and then meeting up with a different guy/girl that same night. The media, unfortunately, has an immense influence over teens.

Drugs and alcohol also play a huge role in teens' decisions to have sex. When under the influence, inhibitions are lost, meaning normal standards and limits no longer exist. So if someone were to advance on you at a party, you think nothing of partaking in sexual activities you normally wouldn't. People are cruel enough to take advantage of others that are clearly intoxicated and have no sense of judgement. That's when people have sex and the results could be an unplanned pregnancy. Other times, people purposefully put drugs or slip alcohol into another person's drink to get them high or drunk. Drinking or using drugs seriously handicapps your ability to make clear and sound decisions. Both boys and girls could be pressured to drink or do drugs by their friends. As a result, any of the things listed above could follow.

I think the GREAT Decision Making Model is better than the thinking/acting=deciding method. This method seems as if a person would just let someone take control of them because they are taking the passive approach. If you let people trample all over you, you could be forced to take part in sexual activity you don't want to, which could reslt in pregnancy. If you let chance and fate decide what happens to you, you might not get the end results you want. Even if you choose to have sex actively, did you really think through all of the consequences that would result from this decision? The GREAT Decision Making Model is truly the best because you have to stop, think every possible choice through, pick one, and reflect on your decision later. By using this method, you are consciously accepting the consequences that come with each action and thinking about it after it has occurred. I make decisions using the GREAT Decision Making Model, even if I do not think of each step before making the deicisions. I have to think of all my choices and the results of each before I can decide what is best. Otherwise, I think I would end up regreting a decision I make or wonder why I didn't pick another choice. The GREAT Decision Making Model gives me reasons to why I picked the choice I did. Unless you stand up for yourself and think all your choices through, the best possible deicisions cannot be made.

Legalizing Drugs

Personally, I think the topic of drugs is a major problem in the US. People are concerned about how they are getting it into the US and whether or not it should be legal. To me, I see benefits in using these drugs. They were first introduced to the US during wars when they were used to ease the pain of soldiers. The sad part was, no one knew how addicting the drugs could be. But they also seemed to do a good job of erasing the soldiers' pain. If the drugs were being used for medical purposes and it is known that the drugs can improve a person's survival rate or cure some diseases, I think they should be legal for that kind of use.

I know that in California, it is legal for cancer patients as well as others to go a vending machine containing Marinol, the legal form of marijuana. Marinol is not actually the kind of marijuana you buy on a street corner and smoke; it is a prescription drug formed by the isolated and active ingredient, THC, of marijuana. Now, you may be asking yourself, well doesn't that mean anyone can go and get ahold of marijuana? Actually, the patient must scan an ID, and the patients are limited to certain doses of marijuana each week. But what if the patients do find a way to abuse the drugs?

In reality, the legalized marijuana in CA is used for the following illnesses...
40% Chronic Pain
22% AIDS-Related
15% Mood Disorders
(23% All other categories).

I personally think that making drugs in general legal only causes more problems. New laws and legislations will create more gray areas. If it is illegal now, isn't that saying something? Why should it all of a suddenly be legal? Even if we said people under twenty-one years of age are not allowed to buy it, they will still be able to use their fake IDs for alcohol and drugs. Now, not only will drinking and driving be a problem, we have to worry more about driving under the influence. Right now in its illegal stage, not many people abuse the drug everyday meaning there aren't that many people while driving under the influence. Yet, if we made the drugs legal, more people will be saying, "Oh, they are selling it so it must be okay to smoke/inhale/inject this and drive or operate machinery." In reality, drugs pose serious dangers, both short-term and long-term. That's kind of why these drugs are illegal in the US. Just because Europe is a little more flexible with drug use, does not mean we have to be like them.

Also, the fear of increase in violence and crime would come with the legialization of drug use. Like we learned in class, drug use causes a person to lose their judgement and inhibitions. They begin to lie and change who they are because of the drugs. Drug users no longer care about what they used to do, and they become people they are not. "Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs." It is hard to believe, but it is true. Think of how many more homicides would occur if people were able to just go to the tobacco shop and buy some coke or weed.

We cannot give up our fight against drug use!! In the past twenty years, the use of drugs has gone down by a third! The use of cocaine has gone down by a good 70%!! We should not just abandon our efforts and successes now! We need to take the 95% of Americans who do not use drugs and make it 100% of Americans who do not use drugs. I understand that Marinol, the safe and legal 'marijuana,' is helpful for patients suffering from illnesses, but that is most definitely not the same thing as the illegal version of marijuana we are worried about. I personally don't see a problem in people using Marinol as long as doctors still prescribe it and it is used for serious cases. If we made drug use legal, the drug dealers of the US, Mexico, Colombia, South America, and everywhere else will become even more powerful than they already are. Drugs are illegal for a reason, and we should keep it that way.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/demand/speakout/index.html
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/calimarijuana.html

Environmental Pharmaceutical Pollution

It's ironic that this very same day, I learned how to dispose of prescription medicines in Driver's Education. You are supposed to take any pills, crush them, add water, put them in an absorbent material like Kitty Litter, place in a bag or container of some sort, and throw it away like other trash. By doing this, you have dissolved the drugs and soaked them into Kitty Litter. For liquid medication, absorb them with Kitty Litter or any other absorbent material, and place them in a container, and throw away with other trash. By dissolving the solids and absorbing the liquids, the possibility of the drug going to someone else for misuse is eliminated. Some pharmacies may even take the prescription medication back as a way to eliminate improper disposal. From improper disposal, the average American ingested more than 11 prescriptions last year.

Most people are unaware of the proper disposal of medicines. They end up just flushing everything down the toilet. Unfortunately, it is never that easy. Now, the drugs are in our sewage systems. Our waste water treatments do not treat medicine compounds. Also, we end up dumping more drugs into the environment than can be taken out and cleared away. These drugs are resistant to degradation. So everytime we eat or drink, we are ingesting different drugs from water without knowing it.

There definitely is an impact on people, animals, vegetation, and wildlife if pharmaceutical drugs are disposed of improperly.

Research has shown that there are more than 13 common drugs in our drinking water. These medications are inhibiting our cell's growth and has a negative effect on embryonic growth. The effects from the synergism, or interaction of drugs, has a stronger effect than the individual effects because of their interaction. I have also heard that there are increased levels of estrogen in the drinking water. This increased level of estrogen has a negative effect on women once all the extra estrogen starts building up in their bodies.

Because these drugs are so commonly found in our water supplies, animals have become resistant to some of our prescription medication. Wild geese are resistant to ampicillin, penicillin, erythromycin, and tetracycline. The number of vultures in India has been decreasing because the cattle industry over there involves a lot of diclofenac which is poisonous to vultures. The release of ovary-stimulating hormones in crayfish has been enhanced due to the increased presence of flouxetine in water. Even sunscreen agents have been found in fish in higher concentrations!

As for vegetation and wildlife, they are also impacted by the pharmaceutical pollution. Whenever the vegetation is watered, this water contains these drugs. Before we know it, these plants are resistant to all these different kinds of drugs. Who knows, these drugs may also be a part of the pesticides used on these drugs. If they are resistant to the drugs in the water, they are building up an immunity to the pesticides. This could end up leading to horrible outcomes and a decrease in our food supply. The same goes for wildlife. If the drugs are disposed of in landfills, they may dissolve and enter the ground. Once in the soil, trees and other plants can absorb the drugs. If animals consume this plant, they are consuming the drug. Everything continues on in a cycle unless we cut back on the number of prescriptions we purchase and find a way to dispose of them properly and in an environmentall friendly way.

Here are some links:
http://www.teleosis.org/pdf/symbiosis/Pharmaceutical_Pollution_Ecology_Toxicology.pdf
http://www.teleosis.org/presentations/environmental_burden.ppt

Industrialized Farming

You realize that your fridge is completely empty and run to the grocery store. ALL the shelves are empty and bare. Without industrialized farming, that would be a common situation many families face today. With the industrialization, less and less number of families have to live and work a farm. But does this industrialization benefit our healths? Not all the time.

Farms have now become large scale. Therefore, they are trying to produce as much of their product in a day as they can. A few years ago, there was a big scare that E. Coli was being transmitted to many people byt eh cattle feces that snuck their way into our hamburgers. Instead of making sure to clean the floors and areas around the meat, they just chose to sanitize the feces in the meat. Surprisingly, E. Coli was unknown before 1982. E. Coli is a microbe that thrives in the habitat of a cow's rumen. This ideal habitat is created in the cow when it has a diet of grains instead of grass. Then the manure from these cows contain the harmful E. Coli microbes, and other chemicals that allow the cows to survive the grain lifestyle, end up becoming pollutants instead of fertilizer.

There was also the E. Coli scare with the pre-packaged and washed spinach leaves. When the spinach is being packaged, leaves from many different places are brought together and washed in the same water. That way, if one leaf was contaminated, not all the leaves were contaminated and spread to the whole nation. The Center for Disease Control now estimates 76 million Americans get sick each year from the food supply, while 300,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die.

A way to reverse the negative aspects of industrialized farming is to keep local farmers in business. By doing so, we can pinpoint where the contamination came from, if there was any. Not as many people will be affected by a contamination because only the people in that area are consuming the food. Because the larger industries are trting to accomplish a lot in a short time period, the risks of contamination are greater and can cause many more problems than for local farmers. Also, the produce does not have to be transported far or keep fresh for a longer period of time. As for the E. Coli found in the cattle, by keeping the cattle in a field eating grass, we are reducing the risk of contracting E. Coli. These microbes cannot survive in the stomach of a cattle eating grass. Also, the manure produced becomes a part of the natural cycle, the crops feed the cattle while the cattles' manure feeds the crops. By returning to the way things used to be, many health issues are avoided.

Soy and a Healthy Diet

Recently, the public has been hearing a lot more about soy, and the benefits to your health. Others argue that soy is extremely harmful to our helth. Soy contains many potent toxins including phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, toxic lysinoalanine, and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines. Although companies who use soy know of all the harmful toxins, they do not remove them from the soy before using them in their products. Studies show that male infants feed solely on soy formula ended up underdeveloped while female infants were seen to be prematurely developed. These infants also had 13,000-22,000 more estrogen compounds in their bodies. That many estrogen compounds is the same as five birth control pills!! Also, soy formula for infants has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease. It is also linked to thyroid cancer, infertility, breast cancer, and hypothyroidism.

But on the other hand, there are those many healthy benefits that are widely believed true. Many of the benefits include heart health, preventing cancer, strong and healthy bones, and reducing menopausal symptoms in older women. Soybeans are also rich in many vitamins and minerals, including: calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, B-vitamins, and magnesium. It is the only vegetable source of all amino acids and contains a lot of protein. In the middle of the 1990's, a study showed that soybeans also can help lower cholesterol. Trigylceride levels are lowered by the soy protein while the HDL cholesterol is maintained. And in 1999, the FDA even put up a health claim that lends a helping hand in proving that soy consumed is healthy for you. It reads...

Health Claim:Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease. One serving of [name of produce] provides [amount]g of soy protein.

Personally, I had not known that soy was dangerous to our health until I read what our new post was to be about. Therefore, I am not so sure that I believe soy is as harmful as everyone seems to make it out to be. With technology making keeping things quiet, I believe that if soy was a serious threat, I would have already heard about it. Also, growing up in a household where Japanese food is in abundance, I have been exposed to tofu and other soy products from a very young age. If I do say so myself, I don't believe I have any of the problems linked with infants and children. I don't know if that's because companies treated soy differently 16 years ago, or just because soy does not contain all the harmful toxins people believe it does. I believe the latter. Also, I am pretty sure that the oldest living man is a Japanese man. Most all Japanese people eat tofu and many, many, many other soy products throughout their whole lives. Yet they are able to live happy, healthy, and long lives. Vegeterians/vegans also consume soy as an alternative. So many people consume soy that if it were actually extremely harmful to our health, it would be a lot bigger news.

Resolving Conflicts

A conflict is described as an incompatibility of goals and values between two or more parties in a relationship, resulting in the other trying to control the other party or holding a grudge. Many times these conflicts end up being forgotten and are caused by petty disagreements in someone's relationship. Other times these disagreements are too severe to be forgotten. If that ever occurs, the collaboration method to resolving the disagreement is available.

In this method, the parties butting heads are expected to come together and discuss. By discussing, they are letting the other side know about their abilities, values, and expertise. Therefore, what each party is aiming for is made extremely clear. This method maximizes both sides' goals. Most of you may recognize this method of resolving conflicts as the win/win approach. When using this method, it must be remembered by both parties that they are not fighting a war against each other; they are just trying to fin the best way to resolve their differences.
Just remember, it's...

WE (BOTH PARTIES) vs. THE PROBLEM

NOT

YOU (ONE PARTY) vs. THEM (the other party)

When using this method, these steps need to occur...

1. Two parties come together.

2. They discuss and state their goals.

3. Define and analyze the problem.

4. Brainstorm alternate solutions that emphasize well-being of both parties.

I think this method of conflict resoltuion could be effective when the two groups are willing to sit down and discuss what their problem is. They also have to be able to work towards a common solution that benefits both sides. Sometimes it may be helpful to have a person in the middle who isn't involved in the problem, a third-party observer. This intermediate person cannot be the best friend of one party because then they may take sides. But for some conflicts, I feel there may be no solutions that excentuate a solution beneficial to both sides. For example, if a child disobeys a rule enforced by their parents, they may believe that they did othing wrong and attempt to lessen the punishment. But for situations like this, the child and parents cannot come together and discuss a solution that benefits both sides. Otherwise, the punishment would not be a punishment, and the child will start to believe they can get away with something similar to their disobedient act again. For many situations, I think it is the best idea to satisfy the wishes of both sides and make the situation a win/win solution.

Decision Making Models

The other day in class, we learned a great tool to help us make the right decisions. This tool was the GREAT decision making model.

Give thought to the problem. Do not impulsively make a decision. The consequences may not be rewarding and cause you to regret your decisions.

Review the choices. Come up with a list of ways to handle the situation.

Evaluate the consequences of each choice. This is the time to start thinking of what would the short-term and long-term consequences be if I choose choice A or if I choose choice B.

Assess and choose the best choice. Now, pick the choice that you feel is best for handling the situation.

Think it over afterwards. Reflect on the choice you made. Do you regret it? Could you have picked a better choice? Are you happy and know that you did the right thing?

The steps above are for the GREAT decision making model. Here are two other decision making models. The first one is called the Six Thinking Hats.

The Six Thinking Hat model involves the different colors shown in the picture to the right.

The white is for the observer, and the facts, rumors, and figures involved in making a good. This is using the information that is available to you.

The yellow hat is for the positives, benefits, pluses, and optimisim in the situation. Yellow symbolizes the sun, and is for the logical positive view.

The black hat is for the downside to the situation, the logical negative aspect, judgemental, and critical. This hat focuses on the,"what could go wrong?"

Red is for the emotions, hunches, and intuition that you have. It symbolizes warmth and fire. You believe something without any explanation.

Green is for the new ides and variations, possibilities, and being creative. This color symbolizes vegetation.

Blue is for the controler/conductor, the one organizing the thinking, choices, and conclusions. Like the blue sky, it is overviewing the process.

The next model, called the rational decsion making model, is summarized in the following diagram.

I think all three models for decision making are rather similar. Thay all help us find a way to make the best choice for us and our morals. They all want us to define the problem, and develop the choices that we have for handling this problem. Also, all three models have us look at the pros, cons, and consequences for each choice. In the end, each model has us decide which choice is best based on the information we had previously looked and found.

Although the three models have similarities, they are also very different. The Six Thinking Hats and the Rational Decision Making Model both have six steps, but the GREAT Decision Making model only has five steps. The GREAT Decision Making Model has s thnking over the choice we made at the end, while neither of the other ones have us reflecting on what we decided. The Six Thinking Hats model is also rather confusing to follow. The steps never clearly seem to describe what you should do when you are stuck with a problem. This model is meant for a group situation where everyone is able to say what they would like without running the risk of offending another member of the conversation. This aspect of the model differs from the others because it is a group decision making model. I assume that you can do the whole process on your own, but it is more effective with other members.

Personally, I view the GREAT Decision Making Model to be the most effective and easiest to use. This model is so much easier to remember compared to the other two models that I found. You have an acronym sitting in front of you, detailing the steps you must make to come up with the best and, hopefully, right choice to your problem. I also feel that the model is easiest to understand how to use, and is a good tool for teenagers.

Stress

Stress, the feeling created when our body rises up to a particular challenge, is our body's preparation to focus and deal with a tough situation. Stressors are the events that invoke this feeling in our bodies. For different people, different events can invoke the feeling of stress in their bodies. Some people may become stressed with required 10 minute speech on their research paper; while for others, stress comes when they are in physical danger.

When our bodies respond to stressors, specific hormones are activated by the stressors, including the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Then the hormones are released into the bloodstream, causing our metabolism, heart rate, and breathing rate to speed up, and our blood pressure to rise, also. The blood vessels widen to allow more blood to travel to large muscle groups. Our muscles are on alert, and our pupils dilate to improve our eyesight. Stored glucose is released by the liver to increase our body's energy. Sweat is excreted to cool down our body. Our stress response, all the reactions mentioned above, are intended to make us more efficiently under the pressure.

At times, feeling stress is actually beneficial. In dangerous situations, like preventing an accident while driving, stress makes sure the person stays alert. We become better prepared to meet the challenge. But on other occasions, long term stress can be induced in the body, like during a divorce or starting at college. Sooner or later, our bodies are depleted of energy and can no longer function efficiently. Therefore our immune systems are weakened and we can be left feeling overwhelmed. Stress overload could be in response to...
-being exposed to violence or bullying
-relationship stress, death of a loved one, or a broken heart
-ongoing school problems related to learning disabilities
-no time to rest and relax; constantly being on the go.