•For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.
•In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for about one in five deaths annually
•On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers
The cigarette industry spends billions each year on advertising and promotions.
•$12.5 billion total spent in 2006
•$34 million spent a day in 2006
•Each day, about 3,450 young people between 12 and 17 years of age smoke their first cigarette.
•Approximately 70% of smokers want to quit completely
Movie stars who endorsed Lucky Strikes cigarettes in 1937 were paid $218,750. Researchers say that is equivalent to $3 million in today’s dollar amount.
People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than non-smokers.
If you have diabetes and smoke, your risk for kidney disease is 2 to 3 times higher than if you don’t smoke.
Smoking reduces a woman’s chance of getting pregnant and damages DNA in sperm. Damage to sperm could decrease fertility and lead to miscarriage or birth defects.
Within 20 minutes after quitting, your body starts to heal.
Research has proven that raising cigarette prices, through excise taxes or other methods, increases the quit rate among adult smokers and is especially effective in discouraging children and young people from ever starting to smoke.
