TOBACCOFREE/Campaign Fact Sheets

Tobacco use is deadly:

* Over the past 4 decades, cigarette smoking has caused an estimated 12 million deaths, including 4.1 million deaths from cancer, 5.5 million deaths from cardiovascular diseases, 2.1 million deaths from respiratory diseases, and 94,000 infant deaths related to mothers smoking during pregnancy.
* Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year.
* Approximately 28,700 adult Floridians die each year from smoking.
* Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined.
* Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States, causing heart and lung diseases, cancers, and strokes.
* On average, male smokers die 13.2 years earlier than male nonsmokers and female smokers die 14.5 years earlier than female nonsmokers.
* Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smokers are 2-4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.Smoking is prevalent in Florida:
* Approximately 3 million of adults in Florida smoke, or 21% of the state's population.
* Smoking prevalence among adults has not changed in ten years. Nearly one out of every five adults in Florida smokes.

Cigarettes contain harmful chemicals:

* There are 4,000 harmful chemicals in tobacco and 50+ known components that are responsible for causing cancer.
* Other poisons in tobacco include arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde which is used to preserve bodies, and ammonia bromide which is the main agent used in toilet cleaner.

Smoking impairs the body's ability to function:

* Your body contains almost 100,000 miles of blood vessels. Smoking constricts those vessels, depriving your body of the important fresh, rich oxygen it needs.
* Cataracts, cancer, angina, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, chronic bronchitis, high blood pressure, impotence, and respiratory ailments are linked to smoking.
* Smoking slows lung growth, decreases lung function, and reduces the oxygen available for muscles used in sports.
* Smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost 3 times more often than nonsmokers.

Quitting smoking benefits your health:

* The excess risk of developing heart disease as a result of smoking may be reduced by as much as half in the first year or two after quitting.
* Five to 15 years after quitting, the risk of stroke returns to the level of those who have never smoked.
* Quitting reduces the risk of dying from lung cancer; 10 years after quitting the risk for lung cancer is 30% to 50% that of the risk of those who continue to smoke.

Smoking is costly:

* Cigarette smoking is estimated to be responsible for $167 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States ($75 billion in direct medical costs, and $92 billion in lost productivity), or about $3,561 per adult smoker.
* The total economic costs associated with cigarette smoking are estimated at $7.18 per pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.
* Cigarette smoking results in 5.5 million years of potential life lost in the United States annually.

Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

SECOND-HAND SMOKE FACT SHEET

Second-hand smoke is dangerous to non-smokers:

• Second-hand smoke speeds up the heart rate, raises blood pressure and doubles the amount of deadly carbon monoxide in a non-smoker's blood.
• Second-hand smoke contains 250 chemicals known to be toxic, including more than 50 that can cause cancer.
• Second-hand smoke causes irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Second-hand smoke can also irritate the lungs, leading to coughing, excessive phlegm and chest discomfort.
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25-30% and their lung cancer risk by 20-30%.
• Breathing second-hand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk.
• More than 126 million non-smoking Americans continue to be exposed to second- hand smoke in homes, vehicles, workplaces, and public places. Most exposure to tobacco smoke occurs in homes and workplaces.
• There is no risk-free level of second-hand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous.

Second-hand smoke is deadly:

• Second-hand smoke has been estimated to cause 38,000 deaths per year.
• Second-hand smoke causes about 3,400 deaths each year from lung cancer in non- smokers.

Second-hand smoke is especially harmful to children:

• Almost 60% of U.S. children aged 3-11 years--or almost 22 million children--are exposed to second-hand smoke.
• About 25% of children aged 3-11 years live with at least one smoker, compared to only about 7% of nonsmoking adults.
• There are an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 cases every year of infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia in infants and children under 18 months of age who breathe second-hand smoke.
• Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth.

Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY FACT SHEET

Compared with women who do not smoke:

• Women who smoke prior to pregnancy are about twice as likely to experience a delay in conception and have approximately 30% higher odds of being infertile.
• Women who smoke during pregnancy are about twice as likely to experience premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption, and placenta previa during pregnancy.

Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy:

• Have about 30% higher odds of being born prematurely.
• Are more likely to be born with low birth weight (less than 2500 grams or 5.5 pounds), increasing their risk for illness or death.
• Weigh an average of 200 grams less than infants born to women who do not smoke.
• Are 1.4 to 3.0 times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking during the last three months of pregnancy:

• Of women who smoked during the last 3 months of pregnancy, 52% reported smoking 5 or fewer cigarettes per day, 27% reported smoking 6 to 10 cigarettes per day, and 21% reported smoking 11 or more cigarettes per day.
• Of women who smoked 3 months before pregnancy, 45% quit during pregnancy. Among quitters during pregnancy, 52% relapsed within 6 months after delivery.

Prevalence of smoking during pregnancy:

• Approximately 13% of women reported smoking during the last three months of pregnancy.
• Younger, less educated, non-Hispanic, white women and American Indian women are more likely to smoke during pregnancy compared to their older, more educated, counterparts.
• Of women who smoked during the last three months of pregnancy, 52% reported smoking 5 or less cigarettes per day, 27% reported smoking 6 to 10 cigarettes per day, and 21% reported smoking 11 or more cigarettes per day.

Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention