Martyn Day, a solicitor who represents former smokers in the UK who are trying to sue tobacco companies, said it was a significant development. For 50 years the industry has been refusing to accept the relationship between smoking and health problems. Survival rate low Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 400,000 deaths each year. In the UK, lung cancer is the most common cancer, with more than 40,000 new cases diagnosed every year. The survival rate is still extremely low when compared with some other cancers.
Smoking also causes hardening of the arteries which can lead to heart attacks.
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