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SMOKING
AHabit
\óu CanOvercome!
by
Michael A. Snyder
Tobacco use is more than just abad
habit. Read here facts you may not have considered!
1
F SMOKING
is good for
you, why do an estimated
90 percent of smokers try
to quit their ever-popular
habit?
What
are
these smokers tell–
ing us?
If
you 're prese n tly a
smoker, have you considered
why you
smoke?
NO Useful Function
Certainly if you live in the
Western world, you've
heard or seen the various
arguments against smoking.
And you know their validi–
ty.
Yet, every day, thousands
light up their first cigarette,
chew their first chaw of
tobacco, or sample their first
puff of the charred leaf.
Why?
The World Health Orga–
nization (WHO) declares
smoking to be "a deplorably
widespread instrument of
death." A former U.S. Secretary of
Heal th, Education and Welfare
(HEW) characterized smoking as
"slow-motion suicide."
Dr. C. Everett Koop, the U.S.
Surgeon General, thundered tbis
warning: "Cigarette smoking is
clearly identified as the cbief pre–
ventable cause of death in our
society and the most important
public health issue of our time."
November/ December 1982
He charged that smoking is
accountable for 340,000 deaths in
the United States annually.
Tobacco lobbyists weakly assert
that there is no direct link between
lung cancer a nd smoking. Dr.
Koop's conclusive answer? "Ciga-
rette smoking is the majar single
cause of cancer mortali ty in the
United States."
Official commissions and studies
conducted in Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, France, the
Netherlands, New. Zealand, Swe–
den and the United Kingdom have
furt her confi rmed the smoking–
cancer link!
Do you real ize that if you devel-
op lung cancer and are male, you
bave less than a 9 percent chance of
surviving?
If
you're a woman, you
have only slightly better odds.
There's "only" an 88 percent
chance that you won't survive.
If you're a woman smoker, do
you realize t bat death from
lung cancer in women has
bloated to nearly
1,000
per–
cent over the 1930 rate?
There's a hollow ring to
the woman's cigarette adver–
tisement " You've come a
long way, baby" when
authorities predict that the
1980s will see lung cancer
eclipse breast cancer as the
leading cause of women can–
cer deaths.
Further, women smokers
who bear children have to
face the facts tbat smoking
mothers suffer more still–
births than their nonsmok–
ing counterparts. And that
smoking mothers often bear
children with lower birth
weight. These babies are
also often more vulnerable
to disease and premature deatb .
These facts aren't pleasant to
hear or read-but they're the result
of humans demanding their right to
personal choice. lf you' re a smok–
er- it 's indeed yo u r personal
choice!
No Physical Benefits
The American Cancer Society pegs
cigarette smoking as responsible for
7