Tobacco poses many dangers to your health. The United States government and many world health organizations require that tobacco manufacturers place warnings on their tobacco products informing consumers of the health dangers.
Death
Smoking kills an average of 114,000 people a year in the United Kingdom and an average of 443,000 people in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco-related deaths occur from a variety of lung diseases, heart issues and cancers. In the United States, more people die due to tobacco-related diseases than from human immunodeficiency virus, illicit drug use, murder and car accidents all together each year, the CDC says.
Shortened Life Expectancy
People who smoke tobacco die younger than nonsmokers. Of all people who die before age 70, more die from diseases related to tobacco than all of those who die from breast cancer, AIDS, illegal drug addiction and motor vehicle accidents combined. The younger a person begins smoking; the lower his life expectancy becomes. It takes 15 years after you quit smoking for your life expectancy to increase, according to Family Doctor.
Cardiovascular Diseases
Tobacco smoking leads to coronary heart disease and coronary thrombosis. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Cardiovascular disease comes in many forms, and all forms of cardiovascular disease are more common in tobacco smokers than in nonsmokers. Blood clots can lead to heart attacks, stroke, paralysis, kidney failure, gangrene and amputation. Smokers have been shown to form blood clots in the arteries that supply the heart up to 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, according to the CDC.
Cancer
Cancer has continued as one of the most obvious risks of smoking tobacco. Lung cancer would be an extraordinarily rare condition if there were no smokers. Only .5 percent of people who never touch a cigarette are diagnosed with lung cancer, according to the CDC. One in 10 moderate and one in five heavy smokers die of the disease. The CDC also says that 90 percent of lung cancer diagnoses are caused by tobacco smoking. Cancer risk is directly related to the amount you smoke, how old you were when you began smoking and also how long you have smoked.
Impotence
Impotence is a concern for male smokers in their 30s and 40s. The blood vessel damage that smoking causes gives men who smoke tobacco a higher risk of erectile dysfunction. The blood vessel damage leads to degenerated and constricted blood vessels, which reduces blood flow to the male genitalia. This damage increases over time.
