Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society.
Tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States.
Although the number of cardiovascular deaths is declining, smoking-related cancer deaths continue to rise. Since 1987, more women have died each year from lung cancer than breast cancer, which was the major cause of cancer death in women for over 40 years. Approximately half of all continuing smokers die prematurely from smoking. Although no large scale study of the prevalence of GLBT tobacco use has been conducted, current evidence suggests that sexual minority people do smoke more than heterosexuals. According to the 1988 National Lesbian Survey, the rate of smoking among lesbians increases with age, whereas rates of smoking among women in the general population decline with age.