Did you know

• In the USA and in most developed countries, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease.
• In the USA 530,000 people die each year from diseases caused by smoking. This is equivalent to 1,325 crashes of a Boeing 747 (more than 3 crashes a day)! It is more than the TOTALITY of deaths due to road accidents, illegal drugs, AIDS, alcoholic cirrhosis, homicides and suicides.
• Smoking does not only kill old people. In the USA, 36% of deaths occurring in men
  aged 35 to 69 are due to smoking, and 31% for women of the same age.
• 90% of all lung cancer is attributable to tobacco smoking.
• Only 13% of the people who have been diagnosed with lung cancer today will still be alive in 5 years
• One smoker out of 2 will die of a disease caused by his or her smoking. On average, smokers die 8 years before non-smokers. By stopping smoking, you add several years to your life expectancy and increase your chances of seeing your grandchildren grow up.

Did you also know that:

• Smokers get colds more often and recover more slowly than nonsmokers do.
• Gum diseases are more common in smokers than in non-smokers.
• For men, smoking can cause impotence.
• In smoking, you put the health of others in danger. For non-smokers, living with a smoker, the risk of cancer is increased by 26% and the risk of heart attack by 23%, as compared to nonsmokers who live with nonsmokers.
• Smokers cause 33% of all fires (cigarettes thrown in the trash) etc.
• The risk of sudden infant death (SIDS) is higher for infants whose parents smoke.
• Children of smokers are twice as likely to start smoking as children of non smokers. By stopping smoking, you reduce the risk of your children starting to smoke.

Secondhand Smoke:

• Causes an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory infections such as
  pneumonia and bronchitis in infants each year.
• Causes 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations of infants each year.
• Children of smokers are more likely to have bronchitis and pneumonia, especially
  during their first year of life, and are more likely to develop asthma, coughs and early infections.
• A 1993 Environmental Protection Agency report ranked secondhand smoke a "human carcinogen," dangerously equivalent to radon, asbestos, arsenic, and benzene.  
• Infants exposed to cigarette smoke have an increased risk of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
• EPA estimates that approximately 3,000 American nonsmokers die each year from
  lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.
• Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including carbon
  monoxide, ammonia, formaldehyde, benzene and arsenic. Of these, at least 40 are
  known to cause cancer.

Smokeless Tobacco:

• Holding an average-size dip or chew in your mouth for 30 minutes gives you as much nicotine as smoking four cigarettes.
• A 2-can-a-week snuff dipper gets as much nicotine as a 1-pack-a-day smoker.
• Each tin of snuff contains a lethal dose of nicotine and delivers as much nicotine as
  30-40 cigarettes.
• In 1992, Major League Baseball banned spit tobacco for all minor league players in its Rookie and Class A leagues.
• Long-term users are 50 times more likely to acquire mouth cancer.

Advertising:

• Tobacco companies in the U.S. spent over billion in 1990 (that's about million a day
  in advertising).
• Of the 11 top advertising accounts - 5 are cigarette companies.
• Tobacco brand loyalty is one of the strongest in consumer products. Only 10% of
  smokers change brands each year.
• In 1991, 91% of 6-year-olds could match "Joe Camel" with a Camel cigarette, meaning he was as well-known a logo to them as Mickey Mouse for the Disney Channel.
• A 1992 study found that one year after the start of the Joe Camel advertising campaign,
       • Camel ranked third among youths 12-18.
       • 30% of all 3 million billboards are for alcohol and tobacco users.

Tobacco Miscellaneous:

• Chemicals are added to cigarettes to keep the cigarette burning because they would
  self-extinguish without them.
• Smokeless tobacco contains the following chemicals: Polonium 210 (nuclear waste), Formaldehyde (embalming fluid), Cadmium (used in car batteries), Uranium 235 (used in nuclear weapons), acetaldehyde (irritant).
• China is now both the largest producer and the largest consumer of tobacco in the world.