According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, toxic effects of tobacco causes more deaths each year than HIV, suicides and murders, alcohol use and accidents on the road combined. Among tobacco's 250 known toxic chemicals is nicotine, which leads to a smoking addiction in many users of cigarettes, cigars and pipes. Deleterious health effects of chemicals in tobacco reach not only the smokers but also those around the smokers, as secondhand smoke.
Cardiac Diseases
Smoking profoundly decreases the heart's ability to function well and frequently leads to heart disease. In fact, more than 45,000 deaths in nonsmokers who live with smokers are related to heart disease from secondhand smoke exposure. In addition, cigarette smoking increases the risk of stroke as a result of blood clots that break off into the circulation.
Breathing Diseases
Using cigarettes leads to myriad lung diseases, in part because of direct effects of toxic chemicals and in part because of reduced oxygen inhaled from air contaminated with cigarette smoke. Smokers often experience chronic bronchitis infections, are at higher risk for developing pneumonia and will likely develop long-term and irreversible lung diseases. Some long-term diseases, like emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, greatly reduce lung function so that the smoker must work extremely hard to obtain oxygen from the air breathed in. Short-term and long-term effects of secondhand smoke are similar and also include increased likelihood for asthma and breathing problems in children who share a home with a smoker.
Cancers
In addition to long-term lung and heart diseases, smoking is associated with multiple types of cancer caused directly by at least 50 toxic chemicals found in tobacco. According to the World Health Organization, even secondhand smoke contains enough toxic substances to cause cancer in nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of cancer 10 to 20 times and is not limited to lungs. Cancer also may occur in the lips, nose and oral cavities and even in the bladder or kidney.
