A nurse's viral video comparing a set of healthy lungs and the lungs of a smoker shows the dire effects of cigarette smoking. Lungs are not the only organs that can be severely affected by cigarette smoking.

Healthy Lungs vs. Smoker Lungs

Last April 24, nurse Amanda Eller posted two videos on Facebook showing two sets of lungs: a healthy set of lungs from a person who never smoked cigarettes and a dire-looking set of lungs from someone who smoked one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years. On first look, there are vast differences between the two sets of lungs as the healthy set of lungs are bright red, while lungs of the smoker are black and significantly bigger.

When Eller inflates the red lungs, they properly inflate and then seem to pause quite a bit before slowly deflating back to its original size. Eller then inflates the blackened lungs, which she describes as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancerous lungs, and she goes on to describe how it is not as elastic as the healthy lungs, as it deflates rather fast compared to the healthy lungs.

The videos have been viewed millions of times, and the Facebook post has garnered over 10,000 reactions. Comments on the post go from expressions of amazement to messages of gratitude to Eller for the information and visualization.

Smoking Hazards

Over 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. Though the habit is often related to problems with the lungs, it is also actually linked to problems with other organs such as the heart, ears, and liver. Such problems include cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, COPD, immune system problems, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Further, smoking also harms other individuals around the smoker, as exposure to secondhand smoke can cause stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease. In children, such exposures increase the risk for sudden infant death syndrome, middle ear disease, severe asthma, and slow lung growth.

Lately, various agencies such as the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the FDA have been cracking down on cigarette and e-cigarette smoking through anti-smoking plans and by giving the public sufficient warnings on the potential dangers surrounding the use of such products.

In fact, just last march, U.S. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb MD announced the agency's proposal to cut down the nicotine content of cigarettes, potentially making them less toxic and addictive.