THE FACTS ABOUT SMOKING

• Tobacco is the only legally available consumer product which kills people when it is used as intended  
• Some of the 600 chemicals known to be in tobacco smoke: Nicotine - Formaldehyde - Arsenic - Cyanide - Benzene - Carbon Monoxide
• It is very important to understand that smoking does not help you relax, you must rid yourself completely of any such belief. Nicotine is a toxic nerve poison, it constricts arteries and increases adrenaline production, it raises blood pressure in order to overcome the extra constriction in the narrowed arteries and stimulates the entire nervous system. So please understand that smoking is a powerful stimulant, and does not relax you .. you may have conditioned yourself to believe that it does, or repeatedly used it as a cue to relax but smoking does not relax you.
• Smoking kills more than 13 people an hour.
• One person dies from a smoking related disease every 4 minutes in Britain. That's the same as a full Jumbo Jet crashing every single day for a year.
• Most people killed by tobacco started smoking when they were teenagers. Around half of the teenagers who carry on smoking will eventually be killed by tobacco. Half of these will die in middle age (between 35 and 69)
• 22% of all male deaths and 11% of all female deaths are due to smoking.
• Smoking kills. In Britain today, more than 120,000 people are going to die over the next year from illnesses directly related to smoking. For the European Union as a whole, the number of deaths from tobacco is estimated at well over 500,000 a year. In the US this figure stands at 480,000 deaths every year. This trend will only continue unless we all do something.
• These statistics are indeed difficult to grasp and, all too often, too easy to dismiss in that 'it will not happen to me' syndrome. They are powerful statistics and are a reminder and a testimony to individual and family suffering which need not and should not happen.
• This appalling waste of people's lives is extremely frustrating, as it is preventable. We all have a choice, so when anyone chooses to become a non-smoker, they have chosen prolonged life over an earlier death.
• We all have a responsibility to help each other, both smokers and non-smokers have rights and responsibilities - to themselves, to each other, to their families, and to the wider community. The Government is determined to meet its responsibilities. The White Paper on tobacco is a key part in ensuring that the Government keeps its promise, and is a significant step towards achieving the goal of improving public health for all the people of Britain.
• Smoking kills, there is no getting away from this crucial fact. This has been known for years, hence why many adults have become non-smokers. But sadly the number of children who smoke is increasing, with more girls than boys taking up this deadly habit.
• Smoking is the principal avoidable cause of premature deaths in the UK. Smoking harms babies in the womb and causes numerous diseases, often debilitating, sometimes fatal. Passive smoking carries the same dangers albeit to a lesser extent and often these dangers are overlooked.
• The Government is determined to help smokers to become non-smokers and to raise awareness among children and young people to avoid becoming smokers in the first instance. These objectives can only be achieved by a concerted campaign to reduce smoking, and a major part of the effort will be targeted on children - essential when you consider that the vast majority of smokers start as teenagers and many will go on to be regular smokers for the rest of their lives.
• The Government is taking positive action. A European-wide ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship is being introduced. This will be backed up by a powerful £50 million publicity campaign.
• Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. We simply cannot afford to ignore the dangers any longer.
• Cancer and heart disease are the two most common fatal diseases. Smoking is a major cause of cancer and heart disease.Smoking also contributes to  bronchitis, strokes, stomach ulcers, leukaemia, gangrene, asthma, wrinkles, bad breath...
• The Government's new targets will reinforce their key goals for public health improvement. They include improving the health of the nation as a whole, by increasing the length of people's lives and the number of years people spend free from illness. It cannot be done unless we tackle smoking.
• According to World Health Organization statistics, smokers in the UK smoke about 25 per cent more than the EU average, though actual smoking rates in the UK are roughly at the average for the EU as a whole.
• Several hundred people a year in the UK are estimated to die from lung cancer brought about by passive smoking. Passive smoking almost certainly contributes to deaths from heart disease - an even bigger killer than lung cancer.
• Passive smoking, even in low levels, can cause illness. Asthma sufferers are more prone to attacks in smoky atmospheres.
• Children, more vulnerable than adults and often with little choice over their exposure to tobacco smoke, are at particular risk.
• Regular smokers who die of a smoking-related disease lose on average 16 years from their life expectancy compared to non-smokers, for every 1,000 smokers, 500 will die of the habit if they continue to smoke for most of their lives.
• For every 1,000 20-year-old smokers, it is estimated that while one will be murdered and six will die in motor accidents, 250 will die in middle age from smoking, and 250 will die in older age from smoking,
• Smoking causes one out of every seven deaths from heart disease, and 40,300 deaths a year in the UK from all circulatory diseases.
• Smoking is also linked to many other serious conditions including asthma and brittle bone disease (osteoporosis).
• The UK's National Health Service (NHS) spends up to £1.7 billion every year in terms of doctors' time, prescriptions, treatment and operations to combat illnesses caused by smoking.
• Passive smoking also kills. While most non-smokers are not exposed to levels of passive smoke sufficient for them to incur significant extra risk many thousands are, such as those living with smokers or working in particularly smoky atmospheres for long periods of time. Non-smokers and smokers need to be made aware of the risks.

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