Chapter 2: Did You Know?
Smoking Facts and Figures

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This chapter discusses many of the "not-so-glamorous" facts about cigarette smoking. This is mainly an informational chapter. Many of you will have already heard about a lot of the facts and figures below. But this chapter serves an important purpose.

It is very important that you genuinely take heed of what you will be reading in this chapter. If you read this chapter in a defensive frame of mind or you feel like you are being reprimanded for your smoking habit, you need to stop and change this frame of mind before you continue. We're not scolding you; we are simply providing information that is very important to your chances of quitting smoking. It is not meant to scare you into quitting; it is meant to make you honestly think hard about what you are doing to yourself and others when you smoke.

Also, don't just blindly read the facts and figures below and move on. You need to understand the severity of the content and how many people are affected every single day. You will also need to be able to remember them because you will be thinking about these things from now on every time you light up.

We want you to be uncomfortable when you smoke. If you do not feel uncomfortable, or even a bit scared after reading these first two chapters then you should go back and start over until you see it for what it is and what you're doing to your future and the future of your loved-ones.

At this stage, this is the most important chapter in this ebook. You are an adult and you are free to make your own decisions. However, if you do not understand what was just discussed above, then your chances of quitting with this guide will be tremendously diminished.

That being said, think about the following facts and figures and remember them every time you light up a cigarette.

Smoking Facts and Figures

• Smoking is the number 1 preventable cause of death in the United States.
• Around 8 ½ million people in the U.S. have at least one serious illness caused by smoking.
• Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car accidents, homicides, and suicides.combined.
• Smoking is responsible for 87 percent of deaths from lung cancer, 21 percent of deaths from heart disease, 18 percent of deaths from stroke, and 80 to 90 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis).
• Smokers will usually die 10-12 years younger than non-smokers.
• Every eight seconds someone dies from tobacco use...that's about as long as it takes to read this sentence.
• The top mortality rates, by cause, in the United States consist of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and chronic pulmonary disease, all proven to be associated with smoking.

This was just a short list of smoking related illnesses and causes of death. But if you sit back and look at it carefully, you'll soon realize that this is a list that nobody wants to be on. If you are a smoker, chances are high that you will one day be on this list in one way or another.

Smoking Facts and Figures for Women

• Smoking has been proven to increase the risk for cervical cancer.
• Smoking during pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20-30 percent of low birth weight babies, 14 percent of premature deliveries and up to 10 percent of infant deaths.
• Smoking also contributes to other problems during pregnancy.
• The lung cancer death rate among women has increased by 400% in the last 30 years and continues to rise.
• Smoking dramatically increases the risk of heart disease if you are taking oral contraceptives.
• Smoking causes early menopause and decreased fertility.
• Smoking makes women more likely to become overweight and out of shape.

Many of the people reading this guide are women who have become pregnant and are searching for an easy way to stop smoking. If you are one of these women, I genuinely hope the list above has given you an even higher resolve to stop smoking. If you are a man, you probably know a woman who smokes cigarettes. Please let her know about the figures above and that quitting smoking isn't as difficult as everyone seems to think. Use this guide and stop smoking together!

Smoking and Your Children

• Infants are more likely to die from SIDS if their mothers smoked during and/or after delivery.
• Smoking by parents has been associated with exacerbation of asthma in children.
• Smoking by parents is also associated with an increase in frequency of colds and ear infections in their children.
• It is also known to cause an estimated 150,000 – 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in children less than 18 months old.
• Worldwide, 80,000 – 100,000 children start smoking every day. About one quarter of them will die from a smoking-related illness.
• Parental smoking influences children at a young age.
• Children of parents who smoke:
• Are twice as likely to start smoking as children of non-smokers.
• Assume that smoking is an acceptable way to handle stress and boredom.
• Develop a positive attitude toward smoking.
• Are more tolerant of the odors and second-hand smoke.
• Parental smoking has been proven to worsen cases of bronchitis and pneumonia in their children.
• There are currently 4 ½ million children and adolescent smokers in the United States!
• Children and teens who smoke have smaller lungs and weaker hearts than those who do not smoke.

For those of you with children, reading the list above will have struck a nerve. How fair is it that people are doing this to children? Whether they know it or not, the children are not asking for this and they surely don't want it. We will be discussing smoking and children later on in this ebook.

The lists above contain documented facts. Cigarette smoking is not glamorous or cool. It is bad for your body and is bad for the health of the people around you. What's more, the second-hand smoke that comes off the tip of your burning cigarette is even more harmful than what you breathe into your lungs.

The following are just a few of the different chemicals that are found in cigarette smoke. Remember them!

The smoke that is created when you smoke a cigarette
contains the following ingredients:

Tar - That's right, the same stuff that is used to pave highways and attach metal roofs. This is the main cause in the discoloring of the teeth and fabric.

Hydrogen Cyanide - This chemical is mainly used to kill rats. It was also used in World War 2 as a weapon of mass destruction.

Benzene - An important chemical in the gasoline manufacturing process.

Acetone - You women know what this is. It's a main ingredient in fingernail polish remover, and you're smoking it.

Formaldehyde - Used to preserve dead bodies. Also used in industrial fungicides, glues and adhesives.

Ammonia - Have you ever taken a whiff of ammonia? Guess what, you've been smoking it.

Carbon Monoxide - Car exhaust. Popular suicide solution!

Nicotine - This is the drug responsible for the addiction.

These are only a few of the 4000+ chemicals found in cigarette smoke.40 of which are known carcinogens (poisons). With every puff, smokers are inhaling these disgusting chemicals and spreading them around for others to take in.

Remember these facts and figures the next time you light up a cigarette.

Hopefully you are now beginning to question yourself when you reach for your pack of smokes. We are using these lists to make you start honestly thinking about it. When we get to the end of this book, you will be ready and willing to give up cigarettes forever, and we'll show you how surprisingly easy and painless it can be.

In the next section we will discuss second-hand smoke in detail and find out how second-hand smoke harms others around you.

Think About This When You Smoke:

Think about the death and illness facts and figures of smoking listed above. Think about what it is doing to your body. Think about what it does to your children or pets. Think about what you are taking into your lungs with every puff you take from your cigarette.

 

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