Tobacco Facts

•  Nearly 50% of college social smokers continue smoking after graduation.

•  37% of adult non-smokers live with a smoker.

•  Secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 49,000 deaths per year among adults.

•  More than 70% of adolescent smokers wish they had never started smoking in the first place.

•  If current smoking patterns in the United States persist, approximately 5 million of today's children will die prematurely of tobacco-related diseases.

•  Almost 22% of high school students in the United States are current cigarette smokers.

•  There are 1,500 persons younger than 18 who become regular smokers (smoke on a daily basis).

•  Kids consume an estimated 800 million packs of cigarettes each year.

•  8% of high school students use smokeless tobacco.

•  14% of high school students are current cigar smokers.

•  Almost 20,000 people die from tobacco in Ohio each year, around 52 people each day.

•  The annual cost of tobacco use is more than $50 billion in direct medical costs, for a total of $97 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

•  Smokers pay twice as much for life insurance and will die an average of over 12 years sooner than non-smokers.

•  Depending upon where you live in the US a habit of one pack per day can cost up to $1,800 per year.

•  There are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes.

•  Within 20 minutes after you smoke your last cigarette, your body begins a series of changes that continue for years:
          - 20 minutes after quitting, your heart rate drops
          - 12 hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal
          - 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, your heart attack risk begins to drop,
            and your lung function will improve
          - 1 to 9 months after quitting, your coughing and shortness of breath decreases
          - 1 year after quitting, your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smokers
          - 5 to 15 years after quitting, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smokers
          - 10 years after quitting your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smokers, your risk of
            cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases

•  Nearly 80% of Ohioans do not smoke.

•  Secondhand smoke is deadly.  Every ten minutes, it kills a non-smoker.

•  85% of smokers regret starting.

•  "Light" cigarettes contain the same amounts of tar and nicotine as regular cigarettes.  They're called "light" so you think you're making a healthier decision smoking.

•  Smoking only relieves short-term nicotine withdrawal symptoms, while it raises your blood pressure and heart rate.

•  Infants exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

•  Children exposed to secondhand smoke have increased risk for many health problems, including bronchitis, more frequent/severe asthma attacks, coughing, phlegm, wheezing, breathlessness and ear infections.

•  Smoke just 2 cigarettes a week and you have a 50% chance of showing signs of addiction.

•  Over 70% of college students don't smoke.

•  Ohio employers can legally refuse to hire a smoker.

•  Smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer-causing chemicals.

•  Smoke just one pack a day for a year, and it'll cost you as much as three months' rent or mortgage.

•  Nicotine is the main ingredient in spit tobacco. The amount of nicotine in one dip, or chew, of  tobacco can deliver up to 5 times the amount found in one cigarette. For example, a thirty-minute chew gives you the same amount of nicotine as three cigarettes and a two-can per week snuff dipper delivers the same nicotine as a 1 1/2 pack-a-day cigarette habit.

•  Nicotine is highly addictive, which means that tobacco users quickly find themselves physically and psychologically dependent on the drug.

•  A spit tobacco addict will suffer withdrawal when he or she tries to quit using because spit tobacco contains nicotine. The user will experience stress, irritability, sleep problems, cravings, appetite increase and stomach and intestinal disorders

Information from debunkify.com/standonline.org/Mayo Clinic/OTPF/CDC

Working towards a healthier lifestyle . . .