The disturbing facts about tobacco

Smoking is the leading cause of cancer death and the most preventable.

Smoking kills more Americans every year than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, fires, homicides, illegal drugs and suicides combined!

Since 1987, more women have died from lung cancer than breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in women for more than 40 years.

Though smoking among adults 18+ has declined since the first US Surgeon General's Report linking smoking to disease; 3,000 kids become smokers every day in this country. One third of them will eventually die of their addiction.

Nearly 70 percent of smoker's report that they want to quit but can't.

Smoking is the most preventable cause of premature death in the United States, accounting for more than 417,000 of the more than 2 million annual deaths.

Many studies detail the evidence that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease (heart attack). In fact, cigarette smoking is the largest risk factor for sudden cardiac death; smokers have 2 to 4 times the risk of nonsmokers. Smokers who have a heart attack are more likely to die and die suddenly (within an hour) than nonsmokers.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) -- also referred to as secondhand smoke or passive smoke -- accounts for about 40,000 cardiovascular disease-related deaths every year.

According to the AHA, 43 percent of American children ages 2 months to 11 years are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in the home.

A person who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day will waste approximately $8.00 each day and $2,920 each year. A one pack a day smoker will throw away $1,460 per year. Two tins of spit tobacco a day costs $5.00, which adds up to $1,825 each year.

The various chemicals within tobacco have some common uses: acetone -- used as a nail polish remover; nicotine -- used as an insecticide; ammonia -- used to clean windows and bathrooms; formaldehyde -- used to preserve human/animal tissue; carbon monoxide -- found in car exhaust.

Smoking Cessation

It's never too late to quit. Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, your body begins to heal itself so that within a few years, an ex-smoker could have the lungs and health comparable to that of a nonsmoker.

More than half of all Americans who have ever smoked, have quit -- 46 million.

When you're ready to quit, call the Talbot County Health Department at 410-819-5600 for help.