“Smoking is injurious to health” – Myths, facts and risks

Myths

• Roll-your-own cigarettes are more natural than factory made ones (both are equally harmful)
• Air pollution is the cause of lung cancer and not cigarettes
• If you quit smoking, you will gain weight (with a good diet and exercise plan, you won’t)
• Smoking a couple of cigarettes a day isn’t harmful
• Cigarettes help people de-stress (it is the harmful substances in cigarettes that relaxes a smoker)
• Expensive cigarettes are not as harmful as cheaper ones or beedies
• Cigarettes are safer than chewing tobacco
• It is safe to smoke menthol, or low-tar cigarettes (smokers who use these tend to smoke more cigarettes)

Facts

• A cigarette contains 4800 chemicals, 69 of which are cancer triggers
• One person dies every six seconds due to tobacco
• India has 12 crores of tobacco users (includes smokers and tobacco chewers)
• Every 9th Indian uses tobacco
• One third of those who die due to tobacco are children who have been exposed to passive smoke
• Medical costs of treating tobacco related diseases are about 90 crores a year

Risks

Smoking can increase the risk of-

– heart disease by 2 to 4 times
– Occurrence of a stroke by 2 to 4 times
– lung cancer in men by 25 times
– lung cancer in women by 25.7 times
– Smoking can damage blood vessels causing them to thicken and grow narrower
– Blockages can also reduce blood flow to legs and skin causing clots and numbness
– In asthmatics, smoking can trigger an attack or make an attack worse
– Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than non-smokers
– It is more difficult for smokers to get pregnant
– Smoking during pregnancy (even passive smoke) could endanger the foetus
– Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts
– Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis