Tobacco contains thousands of toxic chemicals that are released into your system when you smoke or chew the leaf. According to the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States, there are more than 50 known cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco...
Cigarettes are hard to give up once you are addicted. It is a habit that is both physically and psychological difficult to break. This is especially true if you have smoked for a long time. Another factor that can be extremely difficult for those...
In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General announced that smoking has irrefutable harmful effects on health. MedlinePlus reports that smoking harms nearly every organ in the body, and is associated with multiple health problems. Besides lung disease,...
For a quick summary of the diseases and illnesses caused by smoking cigarettes, consumers need only glance at the product labels. The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General requires labeling to warn tobacco users of their risk for three major,...
According to the American Lung Association, there were 46 million adult smokers in 2008, with over 393,000 individuals dying from smoking-related illnesses. Addiction causes individuals to continue using tobacco products in spite of the existing...
Asbestos exposure and smoking are sources of known carcinogens that can cause serious diseases. Ironically, the manufacturing sector routinely used asbestos decades ago, before the health risks were known. Likewise, smoking was fashionable and a...
Nicotine is a chemical that in large doses can kill a person, report researchers at the American Cancer Society. Smokers ingest nicotine as well as small amounts of the toxins found in cigarettes, which usually are absorbed into the body and...
Tobacco use causes health problems that begin with simple throat irritation and high cholesterol, but may end in deadly disease. Beginning with the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 announcement that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, the list of...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that smoking reduces life expectancy by about 13 to 14 years in the average smoker. In addition, tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, according to the National Cancer Institute. These...
According to Charles D. Conner, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, cigarette smoking-related diseases or complications kill over 440,000 Americans each year. This statistic continues to rise despite the well-known hazards of...
About 20 percent of the adult population smokes cigarettes, cigars or pipes. The American Heart Association reports that tobacco smoking accounts for more than 440,000 deaths each year, many of which are preventable. With those kinds of...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco use causes over 400,000 deaths a year, more than all deaths due to HIV/AIDS, murders, suicides, motor vehicle accidents, illegal drug use and alcohol use put together in...
Smoking tobacco causes a wide spectrum of health problems and affects many of the major organs in the body. The practice can not only affect the smoker, but can present an environmental hazard for nonsmokers. Children in particular are vulnerable,...
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a condition where airflow is persistently blocked on exhalation. Air becomes trapped in the lungs, which increases the effort required to breath. The disease is commonly associated with emphysema...
Heavy tobacco use, once associated only with lung disease, is now known to cause many types of health problems. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's 2004 report, smoking cigarettes can cause health problems in nearly every human organ. Smoking...
An estimated 1.4 million teens below the age of 18 in the United States start smoking each year. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, conducted by the Office of Applied Studies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human...
Marijuana, also called weed, is a dry green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seed and leaves from the plant Cannabis sativa, according to the National Association of Drug Abuse (NIDA). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that...
For unknown reasons, some people develop degenerative disc disease in the spine. This means one or more intervertebral discs lose their mechanical strength and begin to deteriorate. In doing so, they no longer are able to cushion the forces...
It is estimated that tobacco has been around in the Americas since around 6,000 B.C. Cigarettes have been the main causes of many diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema. A statement by the World Health Organization said that the tobacco...
Smoking, like other addictions, creates a social subculture. Co-workers take smoke breaks together, friends who smoke hang out in bars together and some websites even cater to smokers seeking romantic relationships. If you wish to quit smoking,...
Alcohol and tobacco use increase the risk for many of the diseases effecting mortality rates in the United States today. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body and alcohol can increase the chances of injury, accident, assault and damage to...
Smoking mothers are twice as likely to have low birth weight babies, according to the March of Dimes. A study done by the Reproductive Epidemiology Section of the California Department of Health Services reported in "Epidemiology," a medical...
According to 2008 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 21 percent of the adult population in the United States smokes cigarettes, despite their well-known health risks. The...
If you're a fan of old films, you may get the impression that smoking was an acceptable and even glamorous practice--certainly not unhealthy. Silver screen classics such as the 1950 Academy Award Winner "All About Eve" showed Bette Davis and...
Making the transition from childhood to adulthood, teens experience a great deal of stress as they attempt to establish their identities, fit in with their peer group, perform well in school and begin to plan for the future. At the same time, they...
Smoking bans may do more than protect your lungs. Less smoking may improve your memory. Cigarette smoking has been linked with increased risk for cancer, heart disease, emphysema and premature death. Forgetfulness can now be added to the list of...
In the early part of the 20th century, society generally accepted smoking as a benign activity. In the 1960s, medical research linking tobacco use to cancer, lung disease and other ailments changed the public impression of cigarettes. Today,...
Serious disease and sudden death can arise from the physical and mental health problems caused by tobacco use. The known illnesses related to cigarette smoking extend far beyond emphysema and lung cancer, as the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General...
A 2002 report by the Centers for Disease Control indicated that teen smoking was down compared to previous years. However, the statistics are still high regarding the percentage of teens that have tried cigarettes. The online source Teen Help...
