LAKE COUNTY – According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), each year, a staggering 443,000 Americans die each year from tobacco use. Another 50,000 Americans die annually from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined. Disease caused by smoking and/or exposure to second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated one in five U.S. deaths and costs the U.S. over $150 billion each year in health care costs and lost productivity.
Cigarette smoking accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of cancers of the lung, larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat) and esophagus, and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon and rectum, and some leukemias.
Cancers account for only about half of the deaths related to smoking. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, and contributes to the severity of pneumonia. Tobacco has a damaging affect on women's reproductive health and is associated with increased risk of miscarriage, early delivery (pre-maturity), stillbirth, infant death, and is a cause of low birth weight in infants.
Based on data collected from 1995 to 1999, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking.
People who stop smoking at younger ages experience the greatest health benefits from quitting. Those who quit by age 35 avoid 90% of the risk due to tobacco use. However, even smokers who quit after age 50 substantially reduce their risk of dying early. The argument that it is too late to quit smoking because the damage is already done is not true.
In September 1990, the US Surgeon General outlined the benefits of smoking cessation:
Smoking cessation has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Benefits apply to persons with and without smoking-related disease.
Former smokers live longer than continuing smokers. For example, persons who quit smoking before age 50 have one-half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with continuing smokers.
Smoking cessation decreases the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.
Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.
The health benefits of smoking cessation far exceed any risks from the average 5-pound weight gain or any adverse psychological effects that may follow quitting.
The risk of having lung cancer and other cancers can be reduced by quitting. The risk of lung cancer is less in people who quit smoking than in people who continue to smoke the same number of cigarettes per day, and the risk decreases as the number of years since quitting increases.
It’s never too late to quit smoking. The health benefits start just 20 minutes after the last cigarette and continue the longer a person is “smoke free.”
There are many resources to help with quitting smoking. The California 1.800.NO.BUTTS program, funded through Proposition 99, provides free telephone cessation support and materials. In Lake County, Lake Family Resource Center offers free American Lung Association “Freedom from Smoking” classes throughout the year at various locations.
Information regarding stop-smoking is available from Lake Family Resource Center/Lake County Tobacco Education Program by calling 262-1611 or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
