Smoking Facts I Bet You Didn't Know

Here some interesting little tidbits about smoking that may surprise you. I am willing to bet you didn't know the harmful effects of smoking have been known for a very long while, with the first report coming out in 1859. Even way back in John Quincy Adam's day, smoking was known to cause illness, and Thomas Edison thought smoking should be banned. Mr. Edison, I couldn't agree with you more.

Some Quick Smoking Facts:

Cigarette smoking has been identified as the most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality in the United States and the world.

Smoking-related diseases cause an estimated 440,000 American deaths each year.

Smoking costs the United States over $150 billion annually in health care costs.

A 2004 Study by the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion found that cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.
Women account for 39 percent of all smoking deaths.

Real Quotes From Tobacco CompaniesQuotes Found within tobacco papers

“It seems unlikely that we will be able to locate a toxicologist [ a scientist who studies poisons] who will give a 'clean' opinion to tobacco, even if (s)he agrees that ingredients pose no risk. The mot realistic hope is that we can get an opinion that tobacco is a 'risk factor.'” -1986 R.J. Reynolds (RJR) document

“This young adult market, the 14-to 24 age group...represent(s) tomorrow's cigarette business.” - 1974 RJR memo.

“...comic strip type copy might get a much higher readership among younger people than any other type of copy.” - 1973 RJR memo.

“[T]he amount of evidence accumulated to indict [accuse] cigarette smoke as a health hazard is overwhelming. The evidence challenging such an indictment is scant.” - 1962 RJR memo

Cigarettes “cause or predispose, lung cancer...They contribute to certain cardiovascular disorders...They may well be truly causative in emphysema, etc., etc.” - 1963 internal memo from Addision Yeaman, executive president of Brown and Williamson, president of Council for Tobacco Research.

“Without nicotine...there would be no smoking...” - 1972 Philip Morris researcher

“We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug...” - 1963 internal memo from Addison Yeaman, executive vice president of Brown and Williamson, president of Council for Tobacco Research.

John Quincy Adams on Smoking:

In 1845, the sixth US President, John Quincy Adams, wrote a letter to Rev. Samuel Cox in Brooklyn, who was in the process of writing a book about tobacco and smoking. Adams told Cox that when he was a young man, he had been addicted to both smoking and chewing tobacco. When he decided to quit it took him three months.

He wrote:

'I have often wished that every individual afflicted with this artificial passion could force it upon himself to try but for three months the experiment which I made, sure that it would turn every acre of tobacco land into a wheat field, and add five years to the average of human life'

Seldom Known Smoking Facts in History:

People used to believe Tobacco had medicinal value. A French Ambassador named Jean Nicot brought Tobacco plants to Portugal in 1559, telling friends it was useful in treating wounds, asthma and cancer. The words nicotine and nicotiana come from Jean Nicot's last name.

In earlier times, tobacco was called herba panacea- meaning cure-all herb. Some people even believed that smoking cleaned out the lungs.

Several Countries outlawed tobacco use in the 1600s. In Turkey during that period, tobacco users could be tortured or killed. In China, a person caught with tobacco might be beheaded. In Russia, tobacco users who were caught a second time were killed.

The first report to link smoking to certain diseases was published in 1859.

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both declared tobacco use should be banned.

Cigar Smoking Facts:

Cigars gotten lots of good press in the 90's. Many celebrities started smoking cigars in the 90s and the bad press of the cigarette companies have the dubious effect of making cigar companies look good by comparison. Nonetheless, the 1989 US Surgeon general's report had plenty to say about the health hazards of cigars:

Most of the same cancer-causing chemicals that are found in cigarettes are present in cigars too.

Deaths from all types of cancer among men who smoke cigars are 34 percent higher than among nonsmokers.

Generally, users of tobacco of all types – cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokless tobacco – are 5 to 10 times more likely to get mouth or throat cancer than nonsmokers are.

Cigar smokers are particularly at risk of cancer of the mouth, esophagus, or larynx (voice box); they are 4 to 10 times more likely than nonsmokers to get one of those types of cancer.

The Coalition for Accountability says that cigar smokers are 3.6 times more likely than nonsmokers to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a disease, such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis, that interferes with the workings of the lungs.

Source: Smoking-Facts.net

by Barb Hicks, RN