Facts About Tobacco - strangefacts

• 5% of the $40,700,000,000 received by states from the lawsuit against the tobacco companies has actually been spent on fighting smoking

• One out of every 11 workers in North Carolina depends on tobacco for their livelihood

• The first American advertisement for tobacco was published in 1789. It showed a picture of an Indian smoking a long clay pipe

• A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses

• Mother Bernardina Matthews established a Carmelite convent near Port Tobacco, Maryland, the first community of Roman Catholic nuns in the Thirteen Colonies

• Tobacco kills one person every ten seconds

• Approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute

• About 15 billion cigarettes are sold each day

• About 5 trillion cigarettes are produced and used on an annual basis

• One of the major problems with smoking and chewing tobacco has to do with the chemical nicotine Someone can get addicted to nicotine within days of first using it. In fact, the nicotine in tobacco can be as addictive as cocaine or heroine

• Nicotine affects mood as well as the heart, lungs, stomach, and nervous system

• Other health risks include short-term effects of smoking such as coughing and throat irritation

• Over time, more serious conditions may develop, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure, bronchitis, and emphysema

• Finally, numerous studies indicate that young smokers are more likely to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or other illicit drugs•Most adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18

• Tobacco use continues to be the most common cause of preventable disease and death in the United States

• Cigarette smoking and tobacco use are associated with many forms of cancer

• Smoking is the main cause of lung and heart disease

• Smoking worsens existing medical problems, such as asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes

• The earlier a person starts smoking, the greater the risk to his or her health and the harder it is to quit