They're aware that it's the most important cause of lung cancer and that it contributes to other respiratory problems. But aside from health-care specialists, few people realize that breathing problems are just the tip of the coffin nail when it comes to smoking's impact on health. The grim reality is that no system of a smoker's body is spared smoking's deleterious effects.
Smoking is a major cause of heart disease, America's leading cause of death.
It's also a leading cause of stroke, the third-leading cause of death. About a year ago ACSH realized that no one had compiled all of smoking's many known health effects into one volume. So we decided to do it ourselves, with the help of experts around the country. What the Warning Label Doesn't Tell You . Then the material in each chapter was reviewed by a specialist in the corresponding field of medicine.