The Alarming Facts About Smoking

Every day it seems that there is a new study or some new research being done to alert people regarding the dangerous facts about smoking.  And with every new piece of research or new study, there seems to be one common truth – the facts about smoking are not good!

Imagine a product that, every year, killed off a little less than half of the population of Rhode Island.  Yes, Rhode Island is a very small state, but cigarette smoking does just that – kills off over 400,000 people every year, or just less than half of that state’s population!  To break that down even further, that means that one in every five deaths in the United States is smoking related.  A sad fact about smoking is that it is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States.

Many women of course are very concerned with breast cancer and respond to this concern with yearly tests, the results of which they wait for anxiously.  However, between 1960 and 1990, deaths from lung cancer among women have increased by more than 400%—exceeding breast cancer deaths in the mid-1980s.  The American Cancer Society estimated that in 1994, 64,300 women died from lung cancer and 44,300 died from breast cancer.

When it comes to the health of your respiratory system, the facts about smoking are that there is virtually no part of this system that is unaffected.  Men who smoke increase their risk of death from lung cancer by more than 22 times and from bronchitis and emphysema by nearly 10 times.  Women who smoke increase their risk of dying from lung cancer by nearly 12 times and the risk of dying from bronchitis and emphysema by more than 10 times. 

Some other alarming facts about smoking are that smoking triples the risk of dying from heart disease among middle-aged men and women.  Think about that – the risk is tripled!  Additionally, smoking affects every part of your body, from your mouth and throat to your bones, your blood, and your digestion.

But probably the saddest facts about smoking are those that affect “passive” smokers, or those that don’t smoke themselves but that are exposed to it from others.  Annually, exposure to secondhand smoke (or environmental tobacco smoke) causes an estimated 3,000 deaths from lung cancer among American adults.

So if you’re someone who smokes, it’s time to stop.  You can see that there is no good news about smoking, nothing beneficial or healthful about it.  You can probably recognize the harm it does to you and those around you – once you get your facts about smoking straight, that is!

Effects of Smoking