SMOKING KILLS

More than 480,000 Americans die from smoking each year!

Over 1,300 people die from smoking each DAY!

• ​Smokers die an average of 10 years earlier than non-smokers.
  
• ​1 in 13 Americans aged 17 or younger alive today will die from tobacco and smoking related causes.
  
• ​Smoking causes cancer and a host of other diseases like heart disease, COPD, asthma, emphysema, diabetes, and stroke.
  
• ​Cancer and heart disease are the 2 leading causes of death among Americans.
• Cigarette smoking and tobacco use are the number 1 cause of lung cancer.
  
• ​Lung cancer is the number 1 killer among all cancers.
  
• ​The rate of cancer and lung cancer in Maine is higher than the national average!

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CDC Facts

A Tiny Killer

The small cigarette packs a big punch! Each cigarette contains about 600 different ingredients that when burned add up to over 7,000 different chemicals that are breathed in and lodged into your lungs. Many of these chemicals are poisonous and according to the American Lung Association, at least 69 of these are known to cause cancer!

• Nicotine
• Tar
• Toluene
• Lead
• Formaldehyde
• Methanol
• Butane
• Acetic Acid
  

• Cadmium
• Benzene
• Arsenic
• Carbon Monoxide
• Acetone
• Ammonia
• Hexamine
• Naphthalene

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Cigarette smoking among youth persists

The younger someone is when they start to smoke, the more likely that they will continue to smoke.

Nationwide, 15.1% of adults 18 and older are current smokers, and 8% of high school students smoke.

• 95% of adult smokers tried their first cigarette before age 21.
• ​9 out of 10 smokers start before age 18.
• 1 out of 4 high school seniors smoke.
• ​Nationally, each day over 3,200 youth under age 18 try their first cigarette and 2,100 occasional smokers become daily smokers.
• 69% of high school students get their cigarettes from a friend, family member, or person 18 years of age, steal them, or give someone money to get them. Most high school smokers give someone else money to buy their cigarettes or get them from a friend.

​In Mid Coast Maine 22.2% of adults 18 and older are current smokers, and 24% of high school students reported smoking or tobacco use.

• 10% of high school smokers report smoking more than 20 per day
• 15% of middle school smokers report smoking more than 20 per day
• Most smoke 2-5 cigarettes per day

Snuff out smoking!

You can quit! And the benefits are immediate!

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