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Cigarette by Sudipto Sarkar

A 20-a-day smoker breathes in up to a full cup of tar in a year. Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and can cause cancer.

Most people recognise lung cancer as being caused by smoking – but it can also cause many other cancers and illnesses. 42,800 deaths in the UK each year are from smoking-related cancers, 30,600 from cardiovascular disease and 29,100 die slowly from emphysema and other chronic lung diseases.

Facts

  • Smoking kills around 114,000 people in the UK each year.
  • Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances.
  • Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.
  • Smokers make up 9 out of 10 heart bypass patients.
  • On average, each cigarette shortens a smoker’s life by around 11 minutes.
  • Smoking 5 cigarettes a day for 2 years costs you almost £1000.

Source: NetDoctor

Read more

  • Smoking – The Facts @ patient.co.uk

    Excerpt: Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to become impotent or have difficulty in maintaining an erection in middle life. This is thought to be due to smoking-related damage of the the blood vessels to the penis. Smokers tend to develop more lines on their face at an earlier age than non-smokers. This often makes smokers look older than they really are. Smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.

  • Become Smoke-free @ NHS

    Excerpt: Some other chemicals found in cigarettes are: Acetone (Nail polish remover), Arsenic (Rat poison), Carbon Monoxide (Petrol exhaust fumes), DDT and Dieldrin (Insecticides), Formaldehyde (Preservative for dead bodies) and Hydrogen Cyanide (Poison used in gas chambers).

Further help

image: Cigarette by Sudipto Sarkar under Creative Commons license