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*Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it extremely hard to quit cigarette smoking.
*Tobacco use continues to be the most common cause of preventable disease and death in the United States.
*Tobacco is considered to be a "gateway drug" which may lead to alcohol, marijuana, and other illegal drug use.
*More than 400,000 people die from smoking every year in the United States. Thats more than 4 million deaths per decade, and the number is growing.
*Smoking greatly increases your risk for deadly lung cancer and other forms of cancer.
*Women who smoke get wrinkles about 10 years before women who dont smoke.
*Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, family pets, friends, and others who breathe the smoker's secondhand cigarette smoke.
*300,000 babies every year get pneumonia due to their parents smoking.
*High school students who smoke cigarettes are more likely to take risks such as ignoring seat belts, getting into physical fights, carrying weapons, and having sex at an earlier age.
*Secondhand smoke from a parents cigarette greatly increases a childs chances for ear problems, bronchitis and getting asthma and serious allergies.
*Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are dangerously low.
*Smoking damages your taste buds so your food doesnt taste as good.
*Women who smoke while they are pregnant are twice as likely to have a miscarriage or a baby with genetic birth defects.
*Smokers get sick on average about twice as often as non-smokers.
*Between 7th and 12th grades, Asian-American smoking rates increased from 4.4 percent to 33.1 percent, a 7-fold increase. Of the ethnic groups surveyed, only whites smoked more by the end of 12th grade.
*A pack-a-day smoker who quits smoking will save more than $1,400 in one year.
*2.7 million kids are established smokers.
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