Smoking Facts
For a complete picture on cigarette smoking and the tobacco industry, check out the facts:
- About 17,000 people die of tobacco-related illnesses in Taiwan every year. ThatŐs almost 47 dead people per day! (New statistics for 2004 have upped it to 51 dead Taiwanese every day.) Check it out.
- According to official government statistics, Taiwanese males (47.6%) are more likely to smoke than Taiwanese females (5.7%). The smoking rate of youth aged 15-17 is 11%. [I'm not sure, though... Do you really believe that every other Taiwanese guy doesnŐt smoke?]
- The economic and social costs of tobacco use in Taiwan are estimated at US$1.8 billion/year. Check it out.
- 4,900,000 people worldwide die per year from tobacco use. a href="http://www.who.int/features/2003/08/en/">Check it out.
- 83-87% of cigarette smokers who smoke more than 26 cigarettes a day believe they are addicted.
- 70% of current smokers said that they would like to stop smoking completely.
- 84.3% of those who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day had unsuccessfully tried to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoked.
- 87% of those who smoke cigarettes smoke every day.
- 75-90% of frequent smokers meet the criteria for addiction
- A smoker who makes a serious attempt to stop smoking has a less than 5% chance of being off cigarettes a year later.
- 1 in 2 smokers will die from smoking, losing an average of 15 years of life. 1/3 of all deaths in middle age (35-69) are caused by cigarettes. Check it out.
- Tobacco use in all forms is responsible for about 30% of all cancer deaths in developed countries and a rapidly rising proportion in developing countries.
- Tobacco cultivation is responsible for 5% of deforestation in tobacco growing countries.
- In the late 1990s, UNICEF concluded that use of child labor in tobacco production was widespread in many tobacco-producing countries.
- If 2/3 of the money spent on cigarettes in Bangladesh were spent on food instead, it could save more than 10,000,000 people from malnutrition. Check it out.
- In Taiwan, the only valid ticket of admission for a 1988 rock concert was five empty packs of Winston cigarettes. Check it out.
- More than 40 of the more than 5,000 chemicals that the FTC found in cigarettes are known to cause cancer in humans. Check it out.
- Cigarettes are one of the few products of any sort on the market that aren't regulated. [Of course they aren't regulated! How could they list 5,000 chemical ingredients on such a small package!?]
- 20% of all deaths in North America are caused by cigarette smoking.
- "No other consumer product is as dangerous, or kills as many people, as tobacco." (World Health Organization) Check it out.
- "The present and potential burden of tobacco-induced cancer is such that every country should give immediate priority to tobacco control in its fight against cancer." (WHO)
- Unchecked, smoking will cause more than 10 million (10,000,000) deaths from (predominantly lung) cancer in the next 10 years. (You know WHO.)
- Nearly 2/3 of smokers have their first cigarette within half an hour of waking up.
- Almost half the smokers who undergo surgery for lung cancer resume smoking.
- Even after smokers have had their larynxes removed, 40% try smoking again.
- Even among adults who express a strong desire to quit smoking and who receive optimal medical care, only half the patients studied were able to stop smoking for as long as one week, and the long-term failure rate was more than 80% after patients were withdrawn from nicotine replacement.
- An estimated 90,000,000 people died from smoking in the 20th Century. Check it out.
- 1 in 8 trees cut down in the world is for tobacco growing or curing - equal to 9,000,000 acres of forest a year! Tobacco companies have even begun clearing rain forests.