Teens Against Tobacco Use ~ Resources

Tobacco Facts

More than 47,000 Canadians die each year of a tobacco related disease. That's 129 every day!
Tobacco industry products kill 1300 New Brunswickers each year.
Every year tobacco industry products kill six times more Canadians than car accidents, murders, suicides and alcohol combined.
Globally more than 4 million people die from tobacco related illnesses each year.
- WHO (World Health Organization)
Tobacco use accounts for more than 20% of all deaths in Canada

In 2004 about 18% of Canadians aged 15-19 smoked. (Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey)
Smoking rates for youth have begun to decrease in recent years, from 28% in 1999 to 18% in 2004. (Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey)
Over 85% of smokers start before their 18th birthday.

Second-hand smoke is more dangerous than directly inhaled smoke. Second-hand smoke releases the same 4,000 chemicals as smoke that is directly inhaled, but in even greater quantity. Approximately 50 of these chemicals (carcinogens) cause cancer.
Nearly 400 non-smoking Canadians die each year from lung cancer due to second-hand smoke.
Second-hand smoke exposure causes about 163 deaths per year in New Brunswick, 1100 deaths per year in Canada.
Second-hand smoke is estimated to cost New Brunswick, $15 million a year in health care costs and $39 million a year in lost productivity for a total economic loss of $54 million each year.
Due to second-hand smoke, children of smokers are 2-4 times more likely to get allergies and asthma than the children of non-smokers. Second-hand smoke exposure to children increases the risk of bronchitis by 46%, asthma attacks by 43%, middle ear tube insertions by 38%, and ear infections by 19%.
Second-hand smoke causes the death of 120 Canadian babies from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Second-hand tobacco smoke increases the risk of miscarriages by 170%, increases the risk of premature birth by 300%, and increases the risk of stillbirth by 55%.
Second-hand tobacco smoke contains nearly twice the amount of tar and nicotine, five times more carbon monoxide and 50 times more ammonia than the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker.

A single can of spit tobacco contains three times the amount of cancer-causing chemicals found in a pack of smokes.
That same can of spit tobacco contains as much nicotine as 60 cigarettes.
Smokeless tobacco is no less addictive than cigarettes.
A person who uses eight to 10 dips or chews a day receives the same amount of nicotine as a heavy smoker who smokes 30 to 40 cigarettes a day.
Holding an average-sized dip or chew in your mouth for 30 minutes gives you as much nicotine as smoking four cigarettes.
More Facts about Smokeless Tobacco
Even More Gruesome Facts

Tobacco is the only product legally available in Canada that can kill its users if they follow the manufacturer’s directions.
Nicotine is more addictive than heroin and cocaine.
Marijuana cigarettes contain more tar than tobacco cigarettes.
Marijuana and cigarette smoke contain as many as 50 of the same cancer causing substances.
When you smoke you inhale over 4000 chemicals, including these goodies...
- Hydrogen Cyanide - poison used in gas chambers to kill people
- Formaldehyde - used to embalm dead bodies
- Arsenic - rat poison...if it kills rats it'll kill you!
- Nicotine - an addictive drug also used as an insecticide
- Ammonia - toilet bowl cleaner...would you drink that?
- Methanol - rocket fuel
- Acetone - paint stripper...eek, that can't be good for our lungs!
- Butane - lighter fluid
- Cadmium - also found in batteries
- Tar - yep, the thick, sticky liquid used to make roads...it'll also turn your teeth and fingers brown
- Stearic Acid - also known as candle wax
- Benzene - rubber cement
- Mercury - the silver liquid in thermometers, Environment Canada calls it "hazardous" and has strict instructions for cleaning and disposing of it if there's a spill.
30% of all cancers are directly caused by tobacco use.
Smoking cessation rates go from 5-21% when smokers work in a non-smoking environment.

More Tobacco Facts