Get the Facts:  Your Family and Secondhand Smoke

What is secondhand smoke?

• It is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.  It is also the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.

Why is it harmful?

• Secondhand smoke causes breathing problems, lung cancer, and heart disease.
• In children, it can cause colds, coughs, and ear problems. 
• It makes asthma attacks worse and more frequent. 
• In babies, it can lead to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
• It hurts your pets.  It can make them sick and hurts their lungs.

What can you do to protect your family?

• Do not allow smoking in your home or car.  Opening windows or using fans is not enough to protect your family! 
• If you smoke, make a plan to quit.

GET THE FACTS:  TOBACCO

Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking

• Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body; causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general.
• The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 438,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5 deaths, each year in the United States.
• More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. (from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated 2006)

Tobacco-Related Costs and Expenditure in the United States

• Annually, cigarette smoking costs more than $167 billion, based on lost productivity ($92 billion) and health care expenditures ($75.5 billion).
• Health care costs associated with exposure to secondhand smoke average $10 billion annually.
• In 2005, the latest year with available data, the cigarette industry spent almost $13.11 billion, or more than $36 million per day, on advertising and promotional expenses.

(from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco)