HARD FACTS OF SMOKING
The US Surgeon General has called cigarette smoking ‘the chief preventable cause of death in our society.”
Cigarette smoking adversely affects ALL systems of the body.
Lung Cancer Risk—increases roughly 50 – 100% for each cigarette you smoke per day.
Heart Disease Risk—increases roughly 100% for each pack of cigarettes you smoke per day.
A smoker is at twice the risk of dying before age sixty-five as a non-smoker.
Cigarettes whether they’re light, lower-tar or regular contain more than 4000 chemicals, including at least 40 that increase the risk of cancer.
-Nicotine: a deadly poison
-Arsenic: used in rat poison
-Methane: a component of rocket fuel
-Ammonia: found in floor cleaner
-Cadmium: used in batteries
-Carbon monoxide: part of car exhaust
-Formaldehyde: used to preserve body tissue
-Butane: lighter fluid
-Hydrogen Cyanide: the poison used in gas chambers
Carbon monoxide is present in cigarette smoke in more than 600 times the concentration considered safe in industrial plants.
A pack-a-day smoker pours about 8 oz –one full cup- of tar into his/her lungs each year. This tar is rich in cancer-producing chemicals, including radioactive polonium 210.
Every cigarette takes approximately 11 minutes off your life. |
