Smoke-Free Nova Scotia
You've heard it all before.
Smoking causes cancer and makes your fingers yellow. Kissing a smoker is
like kissing an ashtray. Sure. We know you hear this every day. But let's
face the facts - too many young Canadians are still tempted even though
the vast majority don't smoke. Cancer statistics and heavy messages just
don't seem to stick. So what gives?
“Hook ‘em for
life”
Tobacco companies depend on young people like you to pick up the smoking
habit- and stick with it until you die. They already know that most adult
smokers started when they were teenagers - 85% of adult smokers had their
first cigarette before they were 19 years old!
But you don't have to play their game. The next
time you think about lighting up, consider who's going to benefit … you're
smarter than that.
“What’s the deal
with smoking?”
By giving you the facts about what smoking means to your body, your environment
and who's actually benefiting from the sale of tobacco products we hope
you'll make an informed decision about sticking that cigarette in your
mouth and lighting up.
- Tobacco smoke is made up mainly of tar
(which builds up in your lungs), nicotine and carbon monoxide. It also
contains other poisonous
substances like cyanide, formaldehyde and ammonia.
- Smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco, snuff) is also very dangerous to
health. Smokeless tobacco users are more likely to develop cancer of the mouth,
lip, tongue, gums, and throat. You are also more likely to develop dental
problems such as cavities, tooth loss and gum disease.
- The nicotine in tobacco is one of the most addictive substances known.
About eight out of every ten people who try smoking get hooked.
- Tobacco use causes many different kinds of cancer -- and not just lung
cancer. Think mouth, throat, pancreas, bladder, kidney and cervix. Then
there's respiratory and heart disease.
- Young women who smoke and are taking birth control pills increase their
chances for serious heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.
- Second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer among non-smokers.
- A Canadian dies every 12 minutes of a tobacco-related disease.
- Tobacco smoke kills over 45,000 people in Canada each year. That's more
than the total of all murders, alcohol-related deaths, car accidents and
suicides.
“It’s never going
to happen to me”
Yeah, right. When we're young and strong, it's so easy to think that cancer
and heart disease only happen to other people. Much older people. You're
immune, right? Wrong
Here's a sobering way to look at the situation:
- Early signs of heart disease and stroke can be found in adolescents
who smoke.
- The younger people start smoking, the more likely they are to become
addicted to nicotine.
- Most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood.
- Smoking reduces the rate of lung growth and it can hamper the level
of maximum lung function.
- High school seniors who are regular smokers and began smoking by grade
nine are more than twice as likely than their non-smoking peers to report
poorer overall health, cough with phlegm or blood, shortness of breath
when not exercising, and wheezing or gasping.
- Smoking hurts young people's physical fitness in terms of both performance
and endurance -- even among young people trained in competitive running.
- The resting heart rates of young adult smokers are two to three beats
per minute faster than non-smokers.
- Smoking at an early age increases the risk of lung cancer.
Did you know…
Good news or bad, we've got facts and figures to help you make up your
mind about smoking.
The good...
- The latest Canadian statistics show that fewer teenagers aged 15-19
are smoking. In the first half of 2001, only 23% of teens aged 15-19 smoked;
that's down from 28% in 1999!
- Teen smokers lead the way when it comes to quitting. In fact 25% of
teen smokers were actively trying to quit in 2000.
-
Thinking of quitting? Increase the odds. Check out “Quit 4 Life” at
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/youth/quit/quit.html.
Why wait?
The bad...
- Teen girls start smoking earlier than boys and more girls 15 to 19 years
old smoke (27% vs 23%)
- By the time you hit the 18-19 age group, smoking rates increase to 31%
and boys catch up to girls. On the bright side, that means 69% of older
teens still don't smoke. For example, if your high school is 1000 people,
this means that almost 700 of them don't smoke.
- In 2000, an estimated 900,000 kids under 12 were regularly exposed to
second-hand smoke in the home from cigarettes, cigars or pipes.
- One tree is lost for every 300 cigarettes manufactured.
And the ugly.
- Approximately half of all smokers die from a smoking-related illness
-- cancer, heart disease and other ailments.
- Canadian teenagers smoke more than 1.6 billion cigarettes each year
-- resulting in retail sales worth more than $330 million. Just think about
what else could be done with that money.
- More than 1,000 non-smokers will die this year in Canada due to tobacco
use -- over 300 lung cancer deaths and at least 700 deaths from coronary
heart disease will be caused by second-hand smoke.
It's up to you
These facts and statistics are scary because they're true. Next time you
or your friends think about lighting up, take a second to think about
who is benefiting from your smoking and what the effect is on your environment.
For more information, please contact Smoke-Free Nova Scotia at P.O. Box
822, Lr Sackville, NS B4C 3V3 (902) 864-9633 (toll free) 1-866-777-7374
www.smokefreens.ca
Adapted from Health Canada’s Tobacco Control Program, “You
and Me Smokefree!”
