Tobacco has a debilitating spillover effect in society. It makes the numbers of cases for hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome skyrocket. The sad fact is that tobacco kills. Across the United States, more than 400,000 people will die this year of tobacco-related illnesses. Unfortunately, the answer to this problem won t come quickly.
Most smokers start early in life.
In fact, about 90 percent of smokers start before they are 18 years old. That first cigarette or dip of snuff may not seem like such a big deal for a teen-ager. A study by the Institute of Medicine indicates that there is an 80 percent chance that children will become addicted to nicotine if they smoke as little as three cigarettes. The numbers are so large that they are numbing. But we must remember that just one loss is too many.