If someone asked you to put some nail polish remover, arsenic or lead into your body would you do it? How about cyanide, formaldehyde or ammonia? Of course you wouldn’t!
But every time you or someone around you lights a cigarette, that is exactly what you are breathing into your body – plus about 4,000 other chemicals.
The same goes for cigarettes that are "light." They have the same chemicals as regular cigarettes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 21percent of adults in the United States are smokers. This equals approximately 46 million Americans. More men (23%) than women (18%) smoke cigarettes. Each year, cigarette smoking causes about 1 in every 5 deaths in the United States. On average, adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. In fact, more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, car accidents, suicides, and murders combined.
Recent research has also shown a link between smoking and breast cancer, and smoking and colorectal cancer.