Damage to the heart and lungs starts with the first cigarette smoked, and smokers as young as 15 have damaged blood vessels and cells which are linked to heart attacks and strokes, according to research forming the basis of a graphic anti-smoking campaign launched in the UK yesterday.
The campaign, based on US research, aims to shock young smokers into thinking about the risks of their habit. It features photographs of diseased organs taken from dead smokers.
The Health Education Authority campaign, which carries the slogan Every Cigarette is Doing You Damage, was begun following the American research showing that young smokers are damaging their bodies from the moment they take up smoking. The research involved more than 1,400 people aged 15 to 34.
Dr Luke Clancy, chairman of ASH, the Irish anti-smoking group, yesterday called for a similar campaign in Ireland.
He said Irish research had shown that children aged 12 to 14 who smoked had a higher incidence of coughing and phlegm. "This might not seem unusual but most people think you do not get cough and spit for years. There is good evidence in this country that smoking causes damage from the start."
Young people who smoke show more signs of atherosclerosis in the aorta - the main blood vessel in the abdomen - than non-smokers, according to research. Atherosclerosis leads to heart disease and strokes.
Smokers as young as 15 years old have damaged blood vessels and cells which are linked to heart attacks and strokes.
Smokers in their teens and 20s are more likely that non-smokers to have a build-up of fat on their arteries.
Damage to the airways and lungs begins from the first cigarette smoked when the carbon monoxide binds with the red blood cells, reducing the blood's ability to carry oxygen. Smoking just two cigarettes doubles the number of damaged blood cells.
The smoke from the first cigarette is enough to paralyse the small hairs which line the airways and protect the lungs from infection. Tobacco smoke also destroys the air sacs in the lungs, starting the process of emphysema.