Smoking tobacco is a dangerous habit that poses significant health risks to the individuals smoking and those around them. Research has established the detrimental effects smoking has on the body, linking it to numerous life threatening conditions such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and respiratory disorders. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, it is present in tobacco, and it compels users to continue smoking, which in turn makes it quite challenging to quit. Second hand smoke is also harmful and it exposes non smokers to similar health hazards which increases the prevalence of disease in society. Given these facts on the dangers of smoking tobacco, raising awareness for tobacco prevention and implementing effective tobacco controls remains crucial in defending public health.
Here are some tobacco use facts:
- Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.
- Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States.
- The tobacco company spends billions of dollars each year on marketing cigarettes.
- Smoking costs the United States hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
- States do not spend much of the money they get from tobacco taxes and lawsuits to prevent smoking and help smokers quit. CDC recommends that states spend 12% of those funds on tobacco control.
- In 2021 11.5% of US adults ( an estimated 28.3 million people) currently smoked cigarettes: 13.1% of men, and 10.1% of women.
- Each day about 1,600 youth try their first cigarette.
- Many adult smokers want to quit smoking.
