THE EFFECTS OF SMOKING

Over 40,000 careful studies have proven that smoking causes disease and death. Every medical and health agency agrees that smoking is a problem. More Americans die every year from smoking-related diseases.

About 419,000 people die each year from cigarette smoking and that is only in the United States. Smoking causes 20 percent of all deaths in the United States each year. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of:

• Lung disease, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis
• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Hormonal problems

There are different types of smokers in the United States. There are female smokers, male smokers, and youth smokers. Youth smokers are continuing to become a problem in the United States.

Passive smoking, or second hand smoking, is a very harmful to non-smokers. It can even be more harmful than being a real smoker. In 1986, the Surgeon General of the United States reported that passive smoking can cause lung cancer in healthy non-smokers.

• Cohen, Philip. Tobacco. Austin: Steck-Vaughn Library, 1992.
• ______. "Facts About. . . CIGARETTE SMOKING." American Lung Association of Washington. Online.
• ______. "Facts About. . . SECOND HAND SMOKE." American Lung Association of Washington. Online.
• Prince, Laurence. Smoking: A Risky Business. New York: Marrow Junior Books, 1996.
• Topical Managers: John Kim and Stephanie Satlzberg. "Harmful Effects of Smoking." The Ashtray: Smoking and Tobacco Abuse. Online.
• ______. "Your Lungs." National Lung Help Education Progam. Online.

  Created: June 22, 1998

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