Smoking kills more people than
alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides,
combined.
Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause
of death behind active smoking and alcohol abuse.
Smoking is considered a health hazard because
tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a poisonous alkaloid, and
other harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, acrolein,
ammonia, prussic acid, and a number of aldehydes and tars;
in all, tobacco contains some 4,000 chemicals.
On average, a pack-a-day smoker spends about
$800 to $1,200 a year on cigarettes.
A recent study found that people who were
exposed to smoke in the workplace were 17 percent more likely
to develop lung cancer than those who were not exposed.
Involuntary smoking has many non-fatal but
serious effects; breathing secondhand smoke makes the eyes
and nose burn, and can cause headaches and nausea in nonsmokers.
These irritants can have a major impact on employees' morale,
productivity and sense of well-being.
Cigarettes kill one in three long-term users.
Cigarette companies spend more than $9.5
billion each year to promote their products -- or more than
$26 million a day -- to advertise and promote cigarettes.
Ohio ranks eighth in percentages of adults
who smoke at 26.6%.
After the latest census, Ohio was ranked
12th for Smoking Attributable Mortality Rates.
The smoking rate for pregnant mothers in
Ohio is 18.8 percent, the sixth worst rate in the nation.
Right now, the only means of effectively
eliminating health risks associated with indoor exposure is
to ban smoking activity. Adverse health effects for the occupants
of the smoking room cannot be controlled by ventilation.
These facts have been compiled from the sources at
the left. Please visit these sites for more information.
