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SOME
FACTS.
About 12
million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes.
More than 80%
of smokers take up the habit as teenagers.
In the United Kingdom about 450 children start smoking every day.
About one
fifth of Britain's 15 year-olds are regular smokers
It is illegal to sell cigarettes to children under16 years old.
Every
year, around 114,000 smokers in the UK die as a result of their
habit.
About half of all regular cigarette
smokers will eventually be killed by their habit.
Around one quarter of smokers die
before reaching retirement age.
Smoking causes
* about 30% of all cancer deaths (including around 84% of lung
cancer deaths),
* 17% of all heart disease deaths and
* at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.
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This image shows a lung with emphysema. Emphysema damages the delicate air sacs in your lungs. They become large and hard, and lose their ability to exchange air. With damaged air sacs, you cannot get enough air to breathe, and always feel that you cannot catch your breath |
Currently,
a 20 a day smoker will spend about £1,650 a year on cigarettes.
Tobacco
smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds, which are present
either as gases or as tiny particles.
These include:
Nicotine
This is what is addictive. It stimulates the
central nervous system, increasing the heartbeat rate and blood
pressure. In large quantities nicotine is extremely poisonous.
Tar
Brown and treacley in appearance, tar consists of tiny
particles and is formed when tobacco smoke condenses. Tar is deposited
in the lungs and respiratory system and gradually absorbed.
It is a mixture of many different chemicals, including:
formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide, benzo[a]pyrene, benzene,
toluene, acrolein.
Carbon monoxide
This binds to haemoglobin in the bloodstream
more easily than oxygen does, thus making the blood carry less
oxygen round the body.
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