• Cigarette smoking is the largest single drain on the Medicare Trust Fund, poised to take $800 billion over the next 20 years, according to a study of hospital records and epidemiological studies.

• Only 11 percent of those polled said they felt tobacco companies told the entire truth about health issues. Forty-five percent said they felt they were mostly truthful but were hiding something, and 38 percent said the companies were mostly lying.

• In 1990, 7,993 deaths in Washington state were tobacco-related. This is compared to 3,024 deaths caused by automobile accidents, suicides, alcohol, AIDS, drugs, homicides, and fires combined.

• Lung Cancer is the state\'s leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women. In 1988, over 81 percent - 1,984 of the total 2,444 lung cancer deaths were caused by cigarette smoking.

• In 1988, Washington state citizens had an estimated 1,374,419 days of disability due to smoking-attri

In 1999, 22 per cent of all cancer deaths were due to lung cancer, making it the most common form of cancer death. Over 80 per cent of all lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking.7 Giving up is the most important thing you can do to reduce your risk.

• Smoking currently kills three million people worldwide every year and by 2020, the deaths will reach 10 million a year if current smoking rates continue. In developing countries, about 200 million will be killed by tobacco -- half in middle age.

As well as being highly addictive4, nicotine has a number of unpleasant side effects on the body. It can act as an emetic (cause vomiting) and it can produce stomach upsets. It raises blood pressure, and increases the likelihood of hypothermia and seizures. Get rid of the nicotine and you will get rid of these symptoms.

Some topics in this essay:
Cancer Institute, Lung Cancer, Trust Fund, Nearly Medicare, Report Card, Cancer Society, Health Foundation, carbon monoxide, lung cancer, deaths caused, cigarette smoking, heart disease, cancer deaths, smoking •, heart attack, reduce risk, • smoking, risk heart attack, , eliminated body means, giving carbon monoxide, falls half smoker, • cigarette smoking,