Consider:

• Every eight seconds, someone in the world dies due to tobacco use.
  
  
• Smoking tops the list as the cause of premature deaths and several diseases in every country. Smoking-related diseases kill one in ten adults globally, or cause four million deaths. By 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people.
  
  
• One third of all men and one fourth of all women smoke.
  
  
• Among young teens (aged 13 to 15), about one in five smokes worldwide.
  
  
• Between 80,000 and 1,00,000 children worldwide, take to smoking each day—roughly half of whom live in Asia.
  
  
• Evidence shows that around 50 percent of those who start smoking in adolescent years go on to smoke for 15 to 20 years.
  
  
• Half of long-term smokers will die from tobacco-related diseases. Every cigarette smoked cuts at least five minutes of life on average—about the time taken to smoke it.
  
  
• One out of three smokers is estimated to eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.
  
  
• Only 12 percent of smokers can expect to live to 85, as compared to 69 percent of non-smokers.

Constituents of a Typical Cigarette

There are about 4,000 chemicals that go into making a single cigarette, all of which give it its unique flavor. Moreover, we are not talking about sub-standard or adulterated cigarettes.

Some of these chemicals are:

• Acetone - nail polish remover

• Ammonia - toilet cleaner

• Hydrogen Cyanide - poison

• Cadmium - car battery fluid

• DDT/ Dleldron - insecticide

• Methanol - rocket fuel

• Napthalene - mothballs

• Nicotine - a drug that can affect the brain chemistry adversely

• Nit Robenzene - petrol additive

• Stearic Acid - candle wax

• Tolvene - industrial solvent

• Phenols - disinfectant

• Formalin - preservative for human tissue

Effects of Smoking

Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death. It is a prime factor in heart disease, stroke, and chronic lung disease. It can cause cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder, and contributes to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys. At least a quarter of all deaths from heart diseases and about three-quarters of the world's chronic bronchitis cases are related to smoking.

Smoking causes bad breath, yellow teeth, wrinkles, excessive perspiration, bad gums, severe cramps, tremors, nervousness, fatigue, headaches, and insomnia.

Heart attacks and stroke caused due to smoking slow your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands. As a result, some smokers end up having their limbs amputated.

Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and causes cancer. A 20-a-day smoker breathes in up to a full cup (210 g) of tar in a year.

The strain put on your body by smoking often causes years of suffering. Emphysema is an illness that slowly rots your lungs. People with emphysema often get bronchitis repeatedly, and suffer lung and heart failure.

What it does to Your Children

Pregnant women who smoke will have babies with malformations and low birth weight. It is likely to cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Second hand smoke is associated with as many as 3,00,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year among infants and babies up to eighteen months old. Passive smoking from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions. If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke as compared to a young person whose parents are both non-smokers. Even in households where only one parent smokes, adolescents are more likely to start smoking.