shocking facts about smoking

“Action on Smoking and Health” tells us that a 30-year-old smoker can expect to live about 35 more years, whereas a 30-year-old nonsmoker can expect to live 53 more years. The children of a parent or parents who smoke may be at risk from the genetic damage done to the parent before conception (because of their previous smoking), the direct effects to them in the womb, and the passive smoke they are exposed to after they are born. - written by June Russell, a member of Smoke-Free Charlottesville

The amount of life expectancy lost for each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28 minutes, and the years of life expectancy a typical smoker loses is 25 years.

“Dying to Quit” book by Janet Brigham

Every cigarette a man smokes reduces his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of cigarettes thus represents a day and a half of lost life. Every year a man smokes a pack a day, he shortens his life by almost 2 months.

<st1:place><st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>California</st1:placename></st1:place>, <st1:city><st1:place>Berkeley</st1:place></st1:city> Wellness Letter, April 2000

There are some 1.1 billion people who smoke on our planet earth. Just less than one-third of all adults in the world smoke regularly. Tobacco deaths will not only occur in old age but will start when smokers are about age 35. Half of those who die from smoking-related causes will die in middle age, each losing about 25 years of life expectancy. More than 95% of the tobacco consumed is in the form of cigarettes. About half of all smokers who undergo lung cancer take up smoking again.

“Dying to Quit,” a 1998 book by Janet Brigham

Smokers in their thirties and forties are five times more likely to have a heart attack as nonsmokers of the same age, says WHO.

<st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state> Post Health,<st1:date year="1997" day="26" month="6"></st1:date>

The addiction to smoking gives a 50% chance of killing the user: three times the risk of playing Russian roulette.

ASH - Jan./Feb.

Tobacco is a mood-altering, addictive drug that kills 500,000 Americans (200 million worldwide) and costs $400 billion each year, according to “Smoking and Health Review,”

We are told by the American Lung Association that tobacco contains more than 4,000 chemicals, 60 of which cause cancer. Some of the ‘killers’ are radioactivity, arsenic, ammonia, lead, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, cadmium, phenol, benzene and hydrogen cyanide (the ‘gas chamber’ gas that poisons the respiratory enzymes).

Although smoking is a constant and chronic irritant to the body tissues, it is also a high-priced addictive pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) that is costly, not only in dollars but lives as well. In the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> alone, cigarette smoking causes over 1,000 deaths a day or a half-a-million lives a year, is responsible for 25% of the cancer deaths, and 30 to 40% of coronary heart disease. Smoking decreases life expectancy for all age groups, and for those who must breathe the passive smoke. There are 4,000 chemicals (lead, cyanide, arsenic, etc.) in cigarette smoke and over 30 of them carcinogenic. The act of smoking desensitizes the smoker to outside stimuli, and it is estimated that a smoker costs an employer about $5,000 yearly.

Smoking has about a 50% chance of killing the smoker. This is three times the risk of playing a round of Russian roulette.

“How YOU Pay The Price,” ASH Smoking and Health Review, Jan./Feb. 2000

WHO estimates that smoking kills more than four million people a year, This figure may rise to 10 million per year by 2030 because of surging tobacco use in developing countries.

AP, “WHO accuses tobacco companies,” HealthCentral.com - Aug. 2000

At least 625,000 individuals in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Americas</st1:place></st1:country-region> die each year from tobacco use, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Tobacco use seems to be on the rise in most countries in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Americas</st1:place></st1:country-region>. What is needed is for governments to implement the recommendations of a report of the World Bank that was released last year. Ways to reduce tobacco use: increase taxes, restrict advertising, restricting smoking indoors, and strong, meaningful, and visible warnings on cigarette packages.

“Tobacco kills 625,000 in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Americas</st1:place></st1:country-region> each year.” Reuters Sept. 2000