SMOKING HEALTH BYTE

Cigarettes contain more than 40,000 chemicals, 69 of which can cause cancer.

     -Canadian Cancer Society 2005

With every cigarette you are inhaling tar, mercury, lead, carbon monoxide, DDT (an insecticide), acetone (nail polish remover), arsenic (rat poison), and hydrogen cyanide (poisonous gas).  

     -Canadian Cancer Society 2005

Children who are exposed to second hand smoke are at an increased risk for developing cancer, heart disease, impaired lung function, middle ear infections, food allergies, SID (sudden infant death syndrome), asthma and behavior disorders.

     -Canadian Cancer Society 2005

Smoking is the predominant cause of 85% of all new cases of lung cancer in Canada.

     -Canadian Cancer Society 2005

Heart disease, lung cancer and cancer of the cervix are more common among non-smokers who are regularly exposed to smoke.

     - Heart and Stroke Foundation

Secondhand smoke contains more hazardous substances than inhaled smoke and contains 2.7 times as much nicotine, 70% more tar and 2.5 times greater carbon monoxide levels.

     -www.lungsareforlife.ca

The rate of smoking among youth aged 15-19 was 16% with 9% reporting daily smoking and 7% reporting occasional smoking.

-Health Canada CTUMS 2006

In 2006, youth daily smokers consumed on average 12.0 cigarettes per day with teenage girls (10.9) smoking fewer cigarettes daily compared to teenage boys (12.9).  The average number of cigarettes smoked per day for teenage boys has increased from 10.1 during the same time period last year.

-Health Canada CTUMS 2006

Being in a smoke-filled room for an hour is the equivalent to smoking one cigarette!

     - www.lungsareforlife.ca

Breathing in second hand smoke - the smoke from other people's cigarettes - can put you at risk for serious health problems.  

     - www.lungsareforlife.ca

Tobacco is the only product in the world that kills half

of the people who use it exactly as directed.

                  -The Canadian Lung Association 2007

The percentage of Smokers in Canada has dropped over

the years from 35% of the population smoking in 1995

to 18% in 2006.

                     -Health Canada Website 2006

The average smoker will die about eight years earlier than a similar non-smoker.

                           -Health Canada, Go Smoke Free, 2007

It's never too late to quit.  Twenty minutes after quitting, blood pressure, pulse rate and body temperature return to normal.  Twenty four hours after quitting your chance of heart attack decreases.  One year after quitting your risk of heart disease is 1/2 that of a smoker.  Your odds of cancer go down the longer you are smoke free.

                           -Heart and Stroke Foundation