M.D. There are about 1 billion cigarette smokers in the world today. Smoking is directly linked to over 400,000 deaths due to cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease annually in the United States alone. Secondhand smoke is an environmental toxin linked to 40,000 to 50,000 deaths annually. Tobacco use kills three times as many Americans as all other addicting drugs combined. Deaths from lung cancer recently surpassed deaths due to breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States.
Women appear to have more difficulty quitting smoking than do men.
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