StopMySmoking

Scary Smoking Facts

You know that smoking isn’t good for you. But did you also know these things?

 1: Each cigarette reduces your life by about 11 minutes. [1]

 2: Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.[2] They include: [3]

  • Arsenic – used in rat poison;

    Lung with emphysema, caused by smoking Photo credit: Yale Rosen

    Lung with emphysema, caused by smoking
    Photo credit: Yale Rosen

  • Formaldehyde – embalming fluid;
  • Tar – material for paving roads;
  • Nicotine – used as insecticide;
  • Cadmium – active component in battery acid.

3: Smokers die an average of 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers. [4]

4: Cigarette smoking is responsible for more deaths each year than deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, car accidents, suicides, and murders combined. [5, 6]

5: Smoking causes more than just cancer.  It also is linked to: [7]

  • erectile dysfunction;
  • infertility;
  • eye disease – leading to blindness;
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema);
  • coronary heart disease;
  • acute myeloid leukemia;
  • pneumonia.
  • different cancers, including bladder, esophageal, larynx, lung, mouth, throat, cervical, uterine, kidney, stomach, and pancreatic cancers.

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Smoking also is a major factor in a variety of other conditions and disorders, including:[7]

  • slowed healing of wounds,
  • peptic ulcer disease,
  • negative reproductive effects: still birth, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

Other Scary Facts

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease[4], responsible for:

  • It is responsible for at least 30% of all cancer deaths.[4]
  • It is responsible for almost 9 out of every 10 deaths related to lung cancer. [4] [Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women, and is one of the hardest cancers to treat.[4]
  • It is attributable for between 80-90% of COPD-related deaths (emphysema and chronic bronchitis).[4]

 

[1] Shaw M, Mitchell R, Dorling D. Time for a smoke? One cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes. BMJ 2000; 320(7226): 53.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117323/

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS). Tobacco Use in the United States. January 27, 2004

[3] What’s in a Cigarette? American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/whats-in-a-cigarette.html

[4] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs — United States, 1995—1999. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2002; 51(14):300-3.  http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5114a2.htm

[5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses — United States, 2000-2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2008; 57(45):1226-8. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm

[6] Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL. Actual Causes of Death in the United States. JAMA. 2004;291(10):1238–1245.

[7] U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2004/pdfs/executivesummary.pdf