Tobacco Facts
Did you know that...
- Someone dies every eight seconds from tobacco use.
- Every minute 10 million cigarettes are sold.
- Among young teens (aged 13 to 15), about one in five smokes worldwide.
- Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death. It is a prime factor in heart disease, stroke and chronic lung disease. It can cause cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder, and contributes to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys.
- More than 4,000 toxic or carcinogenic chemicals have been found in tobacco smoke.
- Evidence shows that around 50% of those who start smoking in adolescent years go on to smoke for 15 to 20 years.Peer-reviewed studies show teenagers are heavily influenced by tobacco advertising.
- Most cases of lung cancer death, close to 90% in men, and 80% in women are caused by cigarette smoking.
- Cancer is the second leading cause of death and was among the first diseases causally linked to smoking.
- In 2003, an estimated 171,900 new cases of lung cancer occurred and approximately 157,200 people died from lung cancer.
- Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing mouth cancers. This risk also increases among people who smoke pipes and cigars.
- Nobody deserves to develop cancer.
- Tobacco use leads to disease and disability.Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction).
- Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.
- Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.
- On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
- Tobacco use costs the United States billions of dollars each year.
- Cigarette smoking costs more than $193 billion Secondhand smoke costs more than $10 billion
- Percentage of U.S. adults who were current smokers in 2009:
- 20.6% of all adults (46.6 million people)
- 21.3% of African American adults
- 23.2% of American Indian/Alaska Native adults
- 12.0% of Asian American adults
- 14.5% of Hispanic adults
- 22.1% of white adults
- NOTES:
- –Adult is defined as 18 years of age or older.
- Each day, about 3,450 young people between 12 and 17 years of age smoke their first cigarette.
- Each day, about 850 persons younger than 18 years of age begin smoking on a daily basis.
- Almost all first use occurs before high school graduation.
- 20% of American teens smoke.
- Roughly six million teens in US today smoke despite the knowledge that its addictive and leads to diseases.
- Of every 100,000 fifteen year old smokers, tobacco will prematurely kill at least 20,000 before the age of seventy.
- According to the Surgeon's General, teens who smoke are three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times more likely to smoke marijuana and twenty-two times more likely to use Cocaine.
- More than 90% of adult smokers started when they were teens.