Cigarette smoking kills an estimated
440,000 U.S. citizens each
year—more than alcohol, illegal
drug use, homicide, suicide, car
accidents, and AIDS combined.
Between 1964 and 2004, more
than 12 million Americans died
prematurely from smoking, and
another 25 million U.S. smokers
alive today will most likely
die of a smoking-related illness.
Cigarette smoking harms nearly
every organ in the body. It has been
conclusively linked to cataracts and
pneumonia, and accounts for about
one-third of all cancer deaths. The
overall rates of death from cancer
are twice as high among smokers
as nonsmokers, with heavy smokers
having rates that are four times
greater than those of nonsmokers.
Foremost among the cancers
caused by tobacco use is lung
cancer—cigarette smoking has
been linked to about 90 percent of
all cases of lung cancer, the number
one cancer killer of both men and
women. Smoking is also associated
with cancers of the mouth, pharynx,
larynx, esophagus, stomach,
pancreas, cervix, kidney, bladder,
and acute myeloid leukemia.
Are There Safe Tobacco
Products?
The adverse health effects of
tobacco use are well known,
yet many people do not want to
quit or have difficulty quitting.
As a result, there has been a
recent surge in the development
of tobacco products that claim
to reduce exposure to harmful
tobacco constituents or to have
fewer health risks than conventional
products. These "potentially
reduced exposure products"
(PREPs), which include cigarettes
and smokeless tobacco (e.g.,
snuff, tobacco lozenges), have not
yet been evaluated sufficiently
to determine whether they are
indeed associated with reduced
risk of disease. Recent studies
indicate that the levels of carcinogens
in these PREPs range from
relatively low to comparable to
conventional tobacco products.
These studies conclude that
medicinal nicotine (found in the
nicotine patch and gum) is a safer
alternative than these modified
tobacco products.
In addition to cancer, smoking
causes lung diseases such as
chronic bronchitis and emphysema,
and it has been found to exacerbate
asthma symptoms in adults and
children. About 90 percent of all
deaths from chronic obstructive
pulmonary diseases are attributable
to cigarette smoking. It has
also been well documented that
smoking substantially increases
the risk of heart disease, including
stroke, heart attack, vascular
disease, and aneurysm. 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.
Exposure to high doses of
nicotine, such as those found in
some insecticide sprays, can be
extremely toxic as well, causing
vomiting, tremors, convulsions,
and death. In fact, one
drop of pure nicotine can kill
a person. Nicotine poisoning
has been reported from accidental
ingestion of insecticides
by adults and ingestion of
tobacco products by children
and pets. Death usually results
in a few minutes from respiratory
failure caused by paralysis.
Although we often think
of medical consequences that
result from direct use of tobacco
products, passive or secondary
smoke also increases the risk for
many diseases. Environmental
tobacco smoke is a major source
of indoor air contaminants; secondhand
smoke is estimated to
cause approximately 3,000 lung
cancer deaths per year among
nonsmokers and contributes to
more than 35,000 deaths related
to cardiovascular disease. Exposure
to tobacco smoke in the
home is also a risk factor for
new cases and increased severity
of childhood asthma. Additionally,
dropped cigarettes are
the leading cause of residential
fire fatalities, leading to more
than 1,000 deaths each year.
Sticky, brown tar coats the lungs of tobacco smokers.
Along with thousands of other damaging chemicals,
tar can lead to lung cancer and acute respiratory
diseases.
