Dangers of Smoking Statistics and Hazards of Smoking

Avoiding the dangers of smoking cigarettes is critical to your survival in this day and age. Here are some well established but shocking smoking statistics about the known hazards of smoking dangers and smoking hazards; all powerful reasons to stop smoking.

There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins.

Some of these smoking hazards are also in wood varnish, the insect poison DDT, arsenic, nail polish remover, and rat poison. Clear and present dangers of smoking!

The soot, tar, gases, and other poisons in cigarettes harm your body over time. The fact is that the dangers of smoking include risking damage your heart and lungs. They also make it harder for you to taste, smell, and fight infections.

Dangers of Smoking Statistics

• Smoking accounts for more than 30% of all deaths from cancer, almost 90% of deaths from lung cancer, and has replaced breast cancer as the leading cause of death due to cancer, for Canadian women.
• Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and chronic lung diseases. Smoking has been linked to about 90 percent of all lung cancer cases.
• It’s a smoking fact that smoking is responsible for about a quarter of heart attack deaths.
• A strong link has also been discovered between smoking and cancer of the pancreas, kidney, and urinary bladder.
• About 75% of deaths from chronic bronchitis and emphysema are attributed to smoking. These smoking statistics reveal the shocking truth about the real hazards of smoking dangers.
• Smoking is associated with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, cervix, kidney, ureter, and bladder.
• The overall rates of death from cancer are twice as high among smokers as among nonsmokers, with heavy smokers having rates that are four times greater than those of nonsmokers.
• On average, smoking removes 15 years from a smoker’s expected life span. Second hand smoking has also shown to be a major risk factor is the development of disease in non-smokers.
• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified environmental tobacco smoke as a class A (known human) carcinogen along with asbestos, arsenic, benzene and radon gas.

Hazards of Smoking – Smokers Cough

Mucus clearance from your lungs is accomplished by cilia, tiny hairlike projections lining the inside of the lungs which constantly move dirt, bacteria, and other irritants up into the throat where they can be swallowed. Cilia beat at about 16 times per second. A decrease in this rate impairs mucociliary clearance.

Cigarette smoke paralyzes the cilia it contacts in the sinuses and lungs for twenty-minutes. Cigarette smoke, even second hand smoke, causes the lungs to become clogged with thick secretions of mucus, containing bacteria and primarily dead white blood cells.

This thick build up of mucus also interferes with cilia pulsation, decreasing mucus clearance still further; multiple dangers of smoking and smoking hazards. Cilia regain their function during cigarette-free sleep, and must work overtime to gather all of the mucus that have built up, which can be up to 2 liters per day.

When smokers awake, they cough because their lungs are attempting to clear this mucus. When cilia are repeatedly exposed to smoke over a long period of time, their action is permanently destroyed rendering smokers’ lungs more exposed to dangers of smoking and hazards of smoking than before.