By now,
most people are well aware that smoking causes lung
cancer. Cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and chewing tobacco kill more
than 434,000 Americans each year accounting for one out of five
premature deaths in this country. Lung cancer is just the first
in a long list of tobacco related illnesses:
Bladder Cancer – Smoking causes 40% of all cases of bladder
cancer.
Breast Cancer – Women who smoke are 75% more likely to develop
breast cancer.
Cervical Cancer – Up to one third of all cases of cervical cancer
are directly attributable to smoking.
Childhood Respiratory Ailments – Children exposed to parents
tobacco smoke have six times as many respiratory infections as
kids of nonsmoking parents.
Diabetes – Smoking decreases the body’s absorption of insulin.
Emphysema – Smoking accounts for up to 85% of all deaths
attributable to emphysema.
Esophageal Cancer – Smoking accounts for 80% of all cases of
esophageal cancer.
Gastrointestinal Cancer – Smoking at least doubles the risk of
cancer of the stomach and duodenum.
Heart Disease – Smokers are up to four times more likely to
develop cardiovascular disease than nonsmokers.
Infertility – Couples in which at least one member smokes are
more than three times more likely to have trouble conceiving.
Kidney Cancer – Smoking causes 40% of all cases of kidney cancer.
Mouth Cancer – Tobacco causes the vast majority of all cancers of
the mouth
Premature Aging – Constant exposure to tobacco smoke prematurely
wrinkles the facial skin and yellows the teeth and fingernails.
Stroke – Smoking doubles the risk of stroke among men and women.
Throat Cancer – The vast majority of cases of pharyngeal cancer
are directly related to smoking.
While smoking has officially been recognized as a cause of lung
cancer, scientists have also confirmed another tobacco danger,
that breathing the air containing someone else’s smoke (second
hand smoke) poses many of the same risk as smoking yourself .
Doctors and Scientists have been reporting on the dangers of
tobacco and smoking for nearly four decades. Many serious
illnesses are directly attributed to smoking. If you want to
live a longer, healthier life quit smoking today!
