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November 20, 2009

CSI: Smokers beware, this proof can blow the mind ...

MARY MEAUX

PORT ARTHUR — Television shows about crime scene investigations show millions of viewers the world of forensic science.

Amanda McLauchlin brought the science of tobacco use CSI style to Port Arthur on Thursday.

McLauchlin, Community Coordinator of the Substance Abuse Division of the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission, brought a team of experts to the YMCA just in time for the Great American Smoke Out.

Gay Lynn Jones, registered nurse, stood before a display of suspended pig lungs showing the dangers of tobacco use. One set of lungs, darkened by tar and nicotine, were difficult to inflate and had a tough texture while the non-smokers lungs were pink and healthy.

Jones said pig lungs are commonly used in demonstrations because of their close anatomy to a humans lungs.

A nearby bottle of dark liquid represented the amount of tar a smoker receives from smoking a half a pack a day for one year.

“Most people think you have to smoke a lot to get this much tar but that’s not true,” Jones said. “Tar has to go some place and ultimately ends up in the lungs.”

The nicotine in tobacco make smoking more difficult to quit than cocaine and heroin, she added.

Sarah McQuinn of Beaumont and Natalie Miller of Port Arthur took a stroll down the CSI: Tobacco displays. The women represent the IEA/Ben’s Kids group and neither one uses tobacco, they said.

“I’d advise anybody at any age not to begin smoking,” Miller said.

Some of the displays showed the real ingredients in tobacco such as arsenic, lead, mercury, DDT, stearic acid, carbon monoxide and more thus making the dangers more real, which is what McLauchlin had hoped would happen.

The benefits of smoking cessation were also outlined.

“Within 20 minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins a series of changes that continue for years,” according to information from the American Cancer Society.

• 20 minutes after quitting your heart rate and blood pressure drop.

• 12 hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

• Two weeks to three months after quitting, your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

• One to nine months after quitting, coughing and shortness of breath decrease, cilia regain normal function in the lungs thus increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce the risk of infection.

• One year after quitting, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

mmeaux@panews.com

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