A Smoking Gun

In 2001, deaths directly related to smoking (not including deaths in which second-hand smoke or death from burns suffered in smoking-caused fires) in the U.S. totalled 394,507. Of those, 160,372 died of smoking-caused cancers (of the lips, tongue, larynx, lung, etc.). An additional 131,503 died of smoking-related cardiovascular disease, and 102,632 of respiratory diseases such as emphysema and chronic airway obstruction. This represents as much as 89% of all deaths from all lung disease. Children between 11 and 15 years of age are on the average 3 times more likely to smoke if their parents do. Boys are twice as likely to smoke if either their father or mother does, and girls 3 times as likely if their father smokes, and nearly 4 times as likely if their mother is a smoker.

What’s in Your Cigarette?

• Roughly 4,000 chemicals, of which 40 are known to cause cancer • Nicotine, which narrows blood vessels and reduces blood supply to the heart and brain. It also shuts off blood to the facial skin, resulting in premature wrinkles, especially in women • Tar, which is deposited in lungs, paralyzing the cilia whose job it is to keep the lungs clear • Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, 50 of which are known to cause cancer (low-tar cigarettes have the bonus of ammonia, which is added to give a faster "hit" of nicotine. • Carbon Monoxide, a poisonous gas found in automobile exhaust fumes and faulty gas heaters. Carbon monoxide keeps your blood from taking up oxygen, causing poor circulation to the brain, organs, and extremities, sometimes resulting in amputation Also... • Hydrogen Cyanide • Formaldehyde • Benzene • Methanol • Polonium • Acetone • Radon • Butane • Toluene • Arsenic • DDT •

Secondhand Smoke Facts

Passive or involuntary smoking is as harmful to a person’s health as directly smoking a cigarette or other tobacco product. Non-smokers breathe in the sidestream smoke – the smoke coming off the burning tip of the cigarette, as well as the mainstream smoke, – the smoke that the smoker inhales and exhales. The World Health Organization and other health groups have identified passive smoking as a hazard for the same diseases as voluntary smokers: heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and cancer of the lips, tongue, mouth, and nose. • Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, 40 of which are known to cause cancer. • A non-smoker exposed to cigarette smoke experiences measurable hardening of arteries in as little as 30 minutes. • Children exposed to passive smoke are admitted twice as often to hospitals for bronchitis, pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases • Passive smoking has been linked to low birthweight in childbirth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) • If you smoke around your children, by age 5 they will have inhaled the equivalent of as many as 102 packs of cigarettes