| |
| Smoking facts |
 |
The American Lung Association
claims that smoking-related diseases result in an astonishing
number of deaths each year -- about 440,000 people in the
United States. Smoking is related to heart disease, stroke,
infertility, peptic ulcers and wounds that heal too slowly.
In addition, the habit accounts for 87% of all lung cancers
and is the primary cause of emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Smoking can also play a part in triggering asthma attacks.
Cigarettes contain more than 65 separate cancer-causing chemicals.
The nicotine in tobacco is a powerful and addictive drug.
It can alter a person’s mood, reduce anxiety and boost
alertness. When inhaled, cigarette smoke travels to the brain
even faster than drugs injected into the vein. Changes to
smokers’ brains over a period of time make them crave
nicotine. In addition, smoking is very often associated with
pleasant or routine behaviors, which makes quitting doubly
difficult.
Women and smoking
More than 22 million women in the United States are smokers.
In 2002, predictions were that 65,000 women would die of the
disease – compared to nearly 40,000 annual deaths from
breast cancer. While more men than women smoke, the gap between
the two is steadily closing up.
Females 35 and older who currently smoke are ten times more
likely to die from emphysema and chronic bronchitis and twelve
times more likely to die prematurely from lung cancer.
Infants of mothers who smoke are more apt to be born pre-term,
have a low birth weight, experience lung difficulties and
even suffer fatal illness. Nicotine is passed to the unborn
child through the placenta and to newborns through breast
milk. Evidence indicates that children exposed to secondhand
smoke experience more asthma, colds, bronchitis, ear infections
and respiratory troubles. Unfortunately, only about 30% of
women who smoke quit when they discover they are pregnant.
Kids and smoking
Despite increased awareness of the dangers, preteens, teens
and young adults continue to smoke – often in an attempt
to improve their social image or as a means of losing weight.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that 2.2
million youngsters under age 18 tried cigarettes for the first
time in 2002. About one in every five seniors in high school
report that they smoke on a daily basis.
Race and smoking
Native Americans and Alaskan natives are the heaviest smokers
(more than 32%). The Prevalence of smoking among other races
is:
| • |
Non-Hispanic whites 24% |
| • |
Non-Hispanic blacks more than 22% |
| • |
Hispanics nearly 17% |
| • |
Asians and Pacific Islanders 12.4% |
|
|
|
|
