Dramatically decreases the likelihood that a young person will be a regular tobacco user as an adult. Tobacco use causes more premature deaths in the United States than any other preventable risk. Smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. By Teens Smoking cigars increases the risk of oral, laryngeal, esophageal, and lung cancers. Second-hand tobacco smoke can cause respiratory illness and lung cancer and can trigger asthma attacks.
Tobacco use causes stained teeth, bad breath, and foul-smelling hair and clothes.
The younger people are when they start using tobacco, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine. Twenty-five percent of high school students smoked a whole cigarette before age 13. Three out of four teenage smokers have tried to quit at least once but failed. Provide prevention education during the years when the risk of becoming addicted to tobacco is greatest. Provide a tobacco-free environment that establishes nonuse of tobacco as a norm and offers opportunities for positive role modeling.