Horrifying video shows difference between smokers and non-smokers lungs
Brits might have to get used to a world without cigarettes now that the government's announced it plans to crack down on people buying cigarettes.
While they won't stop current smokers from smoking like a chimney, the plan is to pull up the ladder, figuratively speaking, with the smoking age ban set to rise year on year.
While smoking is set to become a thing that future generations of Brits will never legally have access to, it's useful to see why ditching smoking might be such a good idea.
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It's no use prevaricating about the bush here, as any doctor worth their salt will tell you cigarettes really f**k up your lungs, though they probably won't put it quite like that.
Instead, they might just decide to scare you with the science of what the lungs of a smoker look like compared to a non-smoker.
As the video above demonstrates, a lifetime of smoking turns your lungs from a healthy colour and mighty capacity to inflate into black, charred things which don't even work properly.
The footage of the smoker's lung shows that it doesn't even fully inflate, with part of it so gnarled that it no longer takes in any oxygen.
The tar and chemicals from cigarettes have essentially rendered a chunk of a smoker's lung inoperable.
Given the choice between one lung and another, you'd pick having the healthy lungs of a non-smoker every time unless you were possessed with appallingly poor judgment.
Sometimes a smoker's lung becomes so damaged by the habit that they need to get it replaced altogether, with the lung transplant being a highly complicated but crucial process in the times it is deemed necessary.
The blackened, charred lungs of a smoker can be a disturbing sight to see, though fortunately kicking the habit does bring plenty of benefits.
Smoking is the top cause of preventable illness and premature death, but when you give up you'll see benefits within 20 minutes.
However, it takes quite a long time for your lungs to properly heal and it takes 10 years without a cigarette before your chances of lung cancer are halved.
The shock of withdrawal may be difficult, but if you're able to get through it the health benefits you get back are enormous.
If current government plans go through, then no Brit aged 14 or younger today will never legally be able to buy a cigarette.
Treating the health penalties of smoking is estimated to cost the UK roughly £17 billion a year.
Joe Harker