About 46.5 million adults smoke tobacco in the United States. This figure does not include all the minors that smoke tobacco. Tobacco kills about 400,000 people every year, which comes out to be one in five deaths. If the pattern continues, over 5 million people who are younger than 18 will die from a tobacco-related disease. Also troubling is the enormous cost of taking care of people who get sick from smoking tobacco. About 75 billion is spent on medical costs and another 80 billion in related expenses.
Nicotine is one of over 4000 chemicals that are found inside tobacco smoke and it is the primary chemical that affects the brain while smoking. Even smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco and snuff also contain high doses of nicotine.
The typical smoker inhales about 10 puffs on one cigarette over a period of about 5 minutes. This means that a person who smokes 1 ½ packages of cigarettes per day (about 30 cigarettes) inhales about 300 hits of tobacco every day. This makes tobacco a very addictive chemical and tolerance does occur.
HEALTH BENEFITS: Of all the ways to die, smoking tobacco is the number one cause of death in the United States today. Smokers are more likely to get heart disease, as well as many types of cancers that include coronary heart disease, lung, larynx, esophageal, bladder, pancreatic, and kidney cancers. About 30% of cancer deaths are caused by smoking each year.
PREGNANCY: Smoking during pregnancy can result in spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, and low birth weights. Infants are more likely to die when their mother is a smoker, as well.
SECONDHAND SMOKE: Heart disease is thought to be caused by secondhand smoke. This is smoke that is inhaled from other peoples' cigarettes. Every year, about 3,000 Americans die from lung cancer who do not smoke. Additionally, about 300,000 children experience respiratory tract infections that are caused by secondhand smoke.
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