Smoking Facts
There was a time when everyone believed the world was flat, but then along came Galileo who proved through science and rational argument that the world was in fact round (even though he was initially imprisoned for daring to contradict conventional wisdom).
So we should be careful with what we consider to be fact versus what might turn out to be erroneous or faulty beliefs born out of a lack of knowledge or, if we were to be a little more cynical, a certain amount of profit driven misinformation and cynical rhetoric.
Below are some facts that you might wish to consider in relation to your old, unwanted and outdated smoking habit.
-
FACT!
There are over 4,000 chemicals present in a cigarette including carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide and a whole heap of extremely aggressive carcinogens.
It is healthier for you to eat dog poop than it is to smoke a cigerette.
-
FACT!Once over 35 you have a 1 in 2 chance that your ultimate cause of death will be directly related to your smoking.
-
FACT!
In 2007-08 the Government earned £9 billion in revenue from tobacco duty.
The very same goverment spent £2.7 billion within the NHS on treating diseases caused by smoking. It also spent a further £11.4m on smoking related education campaigns and £56m on helping people stop smoking.
In 2007-2008 the Government made a net profit from UK's smokers of £6.2 billion.
-
FACT!In England one in seven 15 year olds are regular smokers.
-
FACT!The government's own commissioned review into the long-term effectiveness of the NHS Smoking Cessation Services showed that only six or seven percent of smokers were still smoke-free at one year.
-
FACT!Since 2001, when the New Labour government first made nicotine products widely available on prescription, around 700,000 UK smokers have died from smoking related illnesses, and hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been wasted on the pointless production of a very nasty poison, posing as a medication.
-
FACT!
People who smoke between 1 and 14 cigarettes a day have eight times the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to non-smokers.
People who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day have twenty-two times the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to non-smokers.
-
FACTS!About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their addiction.
