facts

• Tobacco kills more people each year than suicides, murders, cocaine, heroin, car accidents and AIDS combined.
• Of all young people in the United States who are currently younger than 18, more than 5 million will die prematurely from a smoking related disease.
• Smokeless tobacco can cause gum disease and cancer of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus and pancreas. It may also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teens who do not smoke.Cigarette products are among the most heavily advertised and promoted products in the United States. This year tobacco companies will spend more than $15.4 billion on ads and promotions trying to get people to smoke.
• The most recent data shows tobacco companies spend $200.4 million marketing their products in Mississippi.
• $264 million is spent annually in Medicaid to treat tobacco-related illnesses.
• Cigarettes contain more than 4,000 harmful chemicals, including some found in rat poison and paint thinner. Many of those chemicals are deadly. In fact, 43 are known to be cancer-causing.
• Teens who smoke are three times as likely as nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times as likely to use marijuana, and 22 times as likely to use cocaine.
• Cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 1 of 5 deaths each year.
• Studies have found nicotine to be addictive in ways similar to those of heroin, cocaine and alcohol.
• Teens that use smokeless tobacco are more likely to become cigarette smokers.
• About 3,000 nonsmokers die each year as a result of secondhand smoke.
• Secondhand smoke causes colds, coughing, earaches and asthma attacks.

Sources: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, www.tobaccofreekids.org, Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov.