The Five Most Harmful Substances

Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor's Name
April 22, 2021
Harmful Substances
Understanding the relative risks and dangers of substances is essential for everyone. It allows for a better response and prevention among various stakeholders, including the individual himself. However, defining what is considered as 'harmful' can be differ based on different criteria for judgment. In this article, I would like to focus on defining and ranking common harmful substances such as; (1) Tobacco, (2) E-cigarettes and vapes, (3) marijuana, and (4) alcohol. Using 'physiological impacts' (negative impacts on the body) as an example, the author believes that the ranking for these substances from the most negative to least is tobacco, alcohol, e-cigarettes, and marijuana, respectively.
Substances
The main reason why I consider tobacco as having the most negative or severe effect on the body is because of its impact. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are around 7000+ chemicals that could be found in a single stick of cigarette, and about 70 of these chemicals have direct relationships with the development of cancer CITATION FDA20 \l 1033 (FDA.Gov). While some might think that these risks are only for chronic and long-term smokers, studies suggest that even a single stick of cigarette per day could even account for around "46% of excess Coronary Heart Disease risk in men and 31% of the risk in women" CITATION Wen18 \l 1033 (Wendling).
The following harmful substance that I consider after tobacco is alcohol. Although the relative risks of alcohol on the body are less than cigarette smoking, studies show that excessive alcohol consumption could increase the risks for various diseases. Some of the common diseases associated with heavy and chronic drinking include liver diseases, diabetes, brain damage, and immune system d...