The annual economic toll of tobacco use is 50 billion dollars in health care costs and 50 billion dollars in indirect costs to society.
Nearly 3000 youths begin to smoke each day.
Nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S. are related to smoking.
Tobacco use is directly responsible for more than 25 causes of death.
ARSENIC : used in rat poison.
ACETIC ACID : Also found in vinegar, hair dye, and developer
AMMONIA : A typical household cleaner
BENZENE : Rubber cement
BUTANE : Cigarette lighter fluid
CADMIUM : Found in batteries and artists' oil paints
FORMALDEHYDE : used to embalm dead bodies and also small animals in biology classes
HEXAMINE : A major ingredient in barbecue lighter fluid
NAPTHALENES : used in explosives, moth balls, and paint pigments
NITROBENZINE : A gasoline additive
PHENOL : used in disinfectants and plastics
STEARIC ACID : found in candle wax
STYRENE : found in insulation material (styrofoam)
VINYL CHLORIDE : found in garbage bags
Tobacco stains teeth and causes bad breath.
Smoking doubles a person's risk of losing teeth.
The smokers are much more likely to have heavily wrinkled faces, gaunt features with prominent cheekbones and shriveled gray skin.
"Smoker's Face" is an early formation of wrinkles in the area of the mouth, around the eyes, and the nose.
Smoking unfiltered cigarettes causes a yellow-brown discoloration of the fingernails, usually of the fingers that hold the cigarette.
Smokers are at greater risk of dying from malignant melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer, than nonsmokers.
"Hairy Tongue" is often seen in smokers.
Smokeless tobacco contains more than 2,000 chemicals, many of which have been directly related to causing cancer.
Smokeless tobacco (chew) and cigarettes are equally addictive.
Dipping two cans a week allows for as much nicotine as a person who smokes a pack and a half a day.
Smokeless tobacco contains more nicotine than cigarettes. An average size dip in your mouth for 30 minutes provides as much nicotine as smoking four cigarettes.
Women smokers who die of a smoking related disease lose on average 14 years of potential life.
In 1997, nearly 165,000 U.S. women died of smoking related diseases.
Since the Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking was released in 1980, about 3 million women in the U.S. have died prematurely of smoking related diseases.
Women who smoke are 4 times as likely to lose their vision, even after they quit.
Cancer
Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer among women. About 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths among U.S. women smokers are attributable to smoking.
In the 1980s, lung cancer overtook breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death of women. Since 1950, lung cancer mortality rates for women have increased 600 percent.
Cigarette smoking doubles the risk of coronary heart disease and accounts for more than 80 percent of lung cancers in women.
Menstrual Functions
Women who smoke have natural menopause at a younger age than do nonsmokers, and they may experience more severe menopausal symptoms.
Pregnancy
Women who smoke during pregnancy risk pregnancy complications, premature birth, low-birth weight infants, stillbirth, and infant death.
Prevalence
A report published in the American Journal of Public Health shows that girls have an easier time buying cigarettes, even at the youngest ages.
Girls and women are significantly more likely than boys and men to report feeling dependent on cigarettes and are more likely to report feeling sad, blue, or depressed during quit attempts.
Advertising
Cigarette companies first began targeting women in the 1920s to recruit female smokers, equating smoking with freedom and emancipation.
The National Center for Health Statistics National Health Interview Survey shows an abrupt increase in smoking initiation among girls around 1967 - the same time advertisements for brands specifically targeted at women entered the market.
Six years after the introduction of Virginia Slims and other brands aimed at the female market, the rate of smoking initiation of 12-year-old girls had increased by 110 percent.
Marketing cigarettes as 'slims' or 'thins' plays into social pressures on young women to control their weight, manage stress, and appear grown-up. One study found that girls who had dieted up to once per week had twice the odds of becoming smokers and girls who dieted more often had four times the odds of becoming smokers.
Cigarette companies have developed some of the most aggressive and sophisticated marketing campaigns in history for reaching and influencing women and girls by focusing on how females view themselves, their aspirations, and the social pressures they face.
The Pill
Women over age 35 who smoke and take the pill are nearly 40 times more likely to have a heart attack than women who don't smoke or take the pill.
Two thirds of the smoke from a cigarette is not inhaled by the smoker.
For every 8 smokers tobacco smoke kills, 1 nonsmoker is also killed by inhalation of secondhand smoke.
Smoke-filled rooms can have up to 6 times the air pollution of a busy highway.
Being in a smoky bar for only two hours is the same as smoking four cigarettes.
Secondhand smoke has been causally linked with heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, and nasal sinus cancer.
Studies rank environmental tobacco smoke - ETS - also known as secondhand smoke or passive smoking - as the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., after active smoking and alcohol use, with an estimated 53,000 deaths annually. About half of these deaths occur from exposure on the job.
Research shows that secondhand smoke exposure caused by parental smoking, especially the mother's, contributes to 150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infection (pneumonia, bronchitis, and other infections) in infants and children under 18 months of age annually; 7,500 to 15,000 of these cases require hospitalization.
In the U.S., SIDS - the primary cause of death in infants between the ages of one month and one year, is strongly linked with maternal smoking.
Being around people who are smoking, even as little as one hour a day, can almost triple a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer, the second leading cause of death among all American women, and the leading cause of death among middle-aged women.
LUNGS - Your lungs have less capacity for oxygen. Smoking tobacco increases your chances of getting lung cancer and emphysema
FACE and BODY - Both chewing and smoking tobacco increase your risk of all types of cancer
TEETH - Both smoking and chewing tobacco increase your chances of gum and other oral diseases
HEART - Smoking tobacco increase your chances of getting heart disease
VASCULAR SYSTEM - Smoking tobacco is a major contributor to poor circulation and thinning blood
ORGAN TISSUE - Smoking tobacco leads to slow decay of various organ tissue
SKIN - Smoking and chewing tobacco causes thinning of the skin creating wrinkles and premature aging
MOUTH - Chewing and smoking tobacco is the number one contributor to all oral cancers
WINDPIPE - Smoking tobacco slowly decays your windpipe and is the major reason for all traecheotomies
HAIR and NAILS - Tobacco use stains teeth, nails and hair
TIP 1 - SET A QUIT DATE
The first thing that you should do is set a quit date, and stick to it. Don’t make vague commitments like 'I’ll quit after this pack,' because you won’t and you’ll keep pushing out your quit date pack by pack. Decide on a day that has special meaning to you like an upcoming birthday or the start of soccer practice. Consider a day within a period of time that is low stress like spring or summer break. This will allow you to come back to a new schedule at school so that you do not slip back into old habits.
TIP 2 - EDUCATE YOURSELF
Research the benefits of quitting. Force yourself to look at the grossest footage of tobacco related cancer and then remind yourself that it happens to people of all ages. Educate yourself about yourself. Every person is unique in how they view smoking or chewing, what role it plays in their lives and what methods of quitting will work for them. So pay attention to yourself and identify the situations or emotions that make you decide to have a cigarette or chew. These are your 'triggers,' the things that make you crave/have a cigarette. Triggers can range from reacting to a fight with your parents, to smoking after a certain meal. For example, if a smoker always lights up when he or she gets into the car, that person’s trigger is opening the car door. In the days leading up to quitting, try keeping a journal of when and why you smoke or chew. Once you have figured out what your triggers are, you can figure out what you can do to avoid them or change your reaction to different situations. Here are a few examples: - If you smoke to relieve nervous energy, try chewing gum or working out — it will help to release pent-up stress, and as an added bonus, help you burn extra calories throughout the day. - If you usually have a cigarette or dip on the way to school, clean your car, empty your ashtray, and clean out any bottles that you could use to spit into. Put a lot of work into it so that you don’t want to smoke and mess it back up. Also try driving primarily with the hand you use to smoke, or try chewing on a cinnamon stick or something else to deter your thoughts from smoking. - If you smoke or chew after meals to help with digestion try mints, exercise, or gum – smoking really doesn’t help with digestion in the long run, and this way you may be able to burn the calories off that you ate. Being conscious of your triggers is half the battle. Try to think of your own creative solutions to them.
TIP 3 - SPREAD THE WORD
Another important thing to do is build a support network. Tell all of your friends, your teachers, and your parents that you are going to quit and ask for their help in holding you to it. You will be surprised at the positive response you get. Once you have let everyone know that you are planning to quit, get help. This isn’t something that you have to do alone. In Washington you have access to trained specialists who will talk with you one-on-one and give you advice in the quitting process. Just call 1-877-270-STOP. It’s fast, free and confidential!
TIP 4 - MAKE A CLEAN START
When you quit you are going to notice a lot of changes. One is that your sense of smell and taste will return and you will be reminded of how strongly tobacco smells and tastes. So, to avoid temptation, clean your clothes, car, and room. Search your room, car, and backpack for anything related to tobacco use (cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, cans of chew, bottles of spit, etc.) and throw them away.
TIP 5 - DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS
Water and juices will help to flush the nicotine out of your system, and the quicker it’s out of your system the faster any withdrawal symptoms will go away. To help in the process cut back on your caffeine intake — it has a stronger effect on your body when you quit using tobacco and can lead to nervousness and jitters. Not to mention that caffeine takes water out of your system, so avoid caffeinated coffees and pop and stick to H2O.
TIP 6 - RELAX
Try to keep your life as low-stress as possible, and remember to relax. Try not to let things get to you and if they do, use another stress relief like chewing gum, running, or a kickboxing class. After a little exercise, things won’t look so bad. Also, if you have always wanted to try yoga or meditation classes, now may be a good time to start.
TIP 7 - RECOGNIZE
Remember that withdrawals and cravings are only temporary as your body readjusts to being tobacco free. It’s not as easy to quit using tobacco as it is to start, but it’s worth it, so don’t give in.
TIP 8 - NEVER GIVE UP
If you slip, this does not mean that you have failed. A slip is just a slip, and does not mean that you have to give up on quitting. Far too often people give up after having a cigarette or two at a party or during a moment of weakness, but this doesn’t mean that you have to start smoking again. It doesn’t matter what other people think — the only person that is important here is you.
TIP 9 - SUBSTITUTE
Keep something in your hands in tempting situations. Curb cravings with chewing gum, hard candy, cinnamon sticks, toothpicks, or whatever works best for you. Also, change the way you approach a situation, such as drinking a bottle of water or your favorite fruit juice with your other hand or drinking through a straw.
TIP 10 - EXERCISE
Make the most of your school gym or local fitness center. Many gyms have special student rates that you can take advantage of. By staying active, it will make it easier to control your weight, give you more energy, help you work out your frustrations, and keep your mind off smoking. Plus, as you workout your body will workout all those toxins and start to heal itself. So take a fun aerobics class or hit the weights, but remember there is a lot of damage to repair so take it slow when you’re just starting out.
