Smoking is the #1 medical cost in the US the most preventable cause of disease and death.
Almost half a million people die each year from smoking related diseases.
Smoking kills more people each year than AIDS, alcohol and drug abuse, car accidents, murders, suicides, and fires combined.
Smoking is a primary risk factor in the top four causes of death (CAD, Cancer, Stroke, COPD).
Cigarette smoke contains at least 60 individual cancer causing chemicals and smoking is directly responsible for almost 90 percent of all lung cancers.
Smoking causes most of the cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Patients who smoke regularly before surgery have twice the risk of wound infections as nonsmokers.
Smoking is a risk factor for osteoporosis (bone mineral loss), hip fractures, and spinal arthritis. A smoker's broken bones take almost twice as long to heal as a non-smoker's.
Smoking causes premature facial wrinkling and graying of the skin.
Smoking during pregnancy accounts for 20 – 30 percent of low birth-weight infants and up to 14% of pre-term births. Approximately 10 percent of all infant deaths are attributable to smoking.
American Cancer Society, and CDC
That said: Smoke away, but if you think your smoking doesn't impact on non smokers you're wrong.
There is NOTHING remotely attractive about someone who has a smoking stick that smells hanging out of his/her mouth. Not to mention the residual stench it leaves. I have never dated a smoker, nor would I. The thought of kissing someone who smokes is vile to me. But more than anything it is the lack of regard for their health that I find less than appealling.
TT [wave]