Discrepant Event, Friends, Fact Sheet & Video:
Friends,
Fact Sheets:
- Carrie's friends nicknamed Carrie,
"Pug," because Carrie was pugnacious.
- On Carrie's fourteenth birthday her
friends bought her a pug puppy. They named the puppy Tipsy. They named the pug Tipsy because
the puppy sometimes ran sideways.
Carrie's friends wrote on her birthday card: "A pug for a pug,
both known to be very sociable, but mulish, yet playful, and smart."
- Carrie had been a premature
baby. Carrie weighed 4 pounds
and eight ounces at birth.
Her birth health problems included underdeveloped lungs. By the age eighteen, however,
Carrie looked fifteen years older than her age. Carrie's medical problem's deteriorated during her
college days, possibly because her roommate smoked about three cigarettes
packs daily.
- Carrie made better grades than her
friends throughout school, yet she struggled with each subject, due to
learning disabilities caused by medical complications.
- Except for Carrie's friends, her
father, and a few teachers, Carrie found that her shyness and anxieties
made it difficult for her to conform harmoniously to others. During her middle school years she
frequently had to stay after school in detention.
- Carrie never smoked nor drank
alcoholic beverages. Carrie,
nevertheless, had developed a serious heart condition and lung cancer the
year before she left college.
- Carrie died, on her birthday, three
years after returning home from college. Carrie's father brought Tipsy, Carrie's pug, to her
funeral. Carrie's friends attended her funeral. Each friend vowed to help others stop smoking, or never
start.
- Each parent of Chris, Ashley, and
Lawanda never smoked. Each of
Joseph's parents never smoked more than five packs of cigarettes. Each of the parents of Emily,
Madison, Abby, and Daniel never smoked more than ten to fifteen packs of
cigarettes.
- Carrie's grandparents, on both sides
of her family, smoked for an extended time. Carrie's mother's parents and four aunts smoked about
three to four packs of cigarettes daily. Carrie's great grandfather, Teddy MacDonald, smoked a
pipe. Teddy MacDonald died of
lung cancer at the age of fifty-seven.
- Carrie's father's parents never
smoked. One uncle, Clayton
Jones (father's side of the family) smoked two to four cigars daily. Clayton Jones died suddenly
of a stroke at the age of fifty-two.
Each of Carrie's friends' grandparents, except for the grandparents
of Emily, Madison, and Daniel, smoked under three cigarette packs in their
lifetime.
- David Christenson was great Abbey's
grandfather. David
Christenson smoked a pipe about once every five to six weeks from age twenty-six
until age thirty; at age twenty-nine a case of pneumonia, and Abbey's
great grandmother's demands to stop smoking, put a stop to David's
smoking.
- Carrie's mother, Peachy Diana Cooper
Jones, smoked several packs of cigarettes daily before Carrie was
born. Peachy also smoked
during her pregnancy with Carrie, and for years after Carrie was
born. Peachy died of heart
failure at age forty.
- Carrie's father, Earnest H. Jones
II, earned his living as an executive at, Bright New Day Inc., an
advertising company. Carrie's
father stopped smoking his first year as the vice-president of tobacco
marketing at Bright New Day, Inc.
Carrie's father lived to be eight-nine.
- Smoking harms more the person
smoking. Smoking causes
disease and death among people exposed to the smoke. Death can be a result of passive
smoking. Babies and children
breathing smoke live in a health-damaging environment. Premature birth, low birth weight,
stillbirth, asthma and other respiratory problems might be the first
consequences of inadvertent breathing in of other people's tobacco smoke.
- A cigarette contains about 4000
chemicals, many of which are poisonous. Some of the nastiest chemicals are
the following:
- Nicotine: a deadly poison
- Methane: a component of rocket fuel
- Ammonia: found in floor cleaner
- Carbon Monoxide: part of car exhaust
- Butane: lighter fluid
- Hydrogen Cyanide: the poison used in
gas chambers
- Even small amounts of the poisonous
chemicals in cigarettes can make you sick and cause you look old before
your time.
- Smoking is the source of what causes
your body and clothes to smell bad.
- Smoking is the origin of your deep
wrinkles.
- Bad breath and stained teeth are the
result of smoking.
- Smokers get three times more
cavities than non-smokers.
- Smoking lowers your hormone levels.
- When smokers catch a cold, they are
more likely than non-smokers to have a cough that lasts a long time.
- Smokers are more likely than
non-smokers to experience bronchitis and pneumonia. Teen smokers have smaller lungs
and a weaker heart than teen non-smokers.
- Smokers become sick more often than
non-smoking teens.
- Lung problems associated with
smoking is painful.
- Nicotine is non-carcinogenic. Nicotine probably is non-cancer
causing. But nicotine is a
highly addictive and very fast-acting drug.
- Once inhaled, nicotine reaches the
brain in less than fifteen seconds.
Most smokers are addicted to nicotine and crave cigarettes to feed
their addiction. Nicotine is
the key ingredient that keeps people buying cigarettes and it keeps the
tobacco companies happy.
- Carbon Monoxide is a tasteless,
odorless, poisonous gas.
Carbon monoxide is taken up by the bloodstream quickly and impairs
the smoker’s breathing. Car
exhausts, faulty heating boilers, and fires also emit Carbon monoxide
gas. Carbon monoxide is very
dangerous in badly ventilated spaces. Inhaling too much carbon monoxide causes coma and death
by asphyxiation.
- Tar is a substance made up of
various chemicals, many of which are known to cause cancer. Around 70 percent of the tar in
cigarettes is deposited in the smoker’s lungs.
- Other harmful chemicals in cigarette
smoke include:
- Acetone, more commonly used in nail
polish remover
- Ammonia, used in the dry cleaning
industry
- Arsenic, a deadly poison used in
pest control and insecticides
- Benzene, a cancer-causing agent used
in the production of fuel and chemicals
- Cadmium, a very poisonous chemical
that can cause liver, kidney, and brain damage, used in batteries
- Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen
used to preserve dead bodies.
- The public health vision of healthy
people and healthy communities guides such states in the United States, as
the Massachusetts comprehensive cancer prevention and control plan. Their vision is based on three key
principles: (a) the purpose of public health is to preserve and protect
the health of entire populations and promote health status improvement for
all; (b) prevention of illness, injury, and disability is paramount; and
(c) prevention improves health status and can be cost-effective.
- The practice of public health is
the systematic application of science-based knowledge, through political
support and social strategies, to achieve better health outcomes for all
people (10, 11). To be successful in changing the health status of the
broad population of Massachusetts, policies and programs need integration
within the context of existing health systems. Such integration must (a)
link payers, providers, and consumers; (b) promote public/private
partnerships;(c) link government health agencies to those that focus on education,
disability, social welfare, employment, and justice; and (d) strengthen
the relationships between communities, service providers, and residents.
- Smoking causes cancer, heart disease
and chronic lung disease. For
example, in the UK alone, smoking kills 120,000 people in every year and
is the single most preventable cause of early death in the world. Passive smoking is responsible for
several hundred deaths each year in the UK.
- A safe level for you to use of
tobacco is zero.
- Tobacco products remain the only
consumer product that kills a high proportion of those using it.
- Tobacco products are designed by the
manufacturers to be smoked, or chewed. Tobacco manufacturers plan campaigns and spend millions
on advertising, to entice or seduce people into using their product. Yet, one in two smokers, smoking
twenty cigarettes daily from age eighteen, will die from their habit, half
of them in middle age.
- The risk of you getting lung cancer
from smoking is directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked. The higher your use, the higher
you place yourself at risk.
- If you smoked one packet of
cigarettes daily for forty years it would be much more hazardous than if
you smoked two packets a day for twenty years.
- When you stop smoking before the age
of thirty-five you have a life expectancy close to non-smokers. Even stopping in middle age has
great benefits.
- You cut your chances of having
health conditions in half by refusing cigarettes for ten years. You lower your risk of medical
problems the longer you avoid smoking. You lower your risk, as well, by avoiding second hand
smoke.
- Nearly all adults believed that
smoke from a parent’s cigarette, in 2001, was harmful to children
(95%). We all believed, by
2001: tobacco companies were deceptive when they repeatedly and
single-mindedly told us that second-hand smoke was harmless (96%). These percentages remained
significantly unchanged from 2000.
The percentage of adults thinking that children are more likely to
smoke if their parents smoke, however, increased significantly from 78
percent in 2000 to 83 percent in 2001.
- Household smoking bans increased
significantly from 69 percent in 2000 to 74 percent, in 2001. The percentage of adults reporting
that smoking was never allowed in the presence of children within their
household also significantly increased from 2000–2001
(83.5%–87.9%). Despite
the findings that 89.5% of smokers recognized the environmental tobacco
smoke (ETS) effects in infants and children, smokers, still, were
substantially less likely (62.9%) than nonsmokers (94.8%) to report the
existence of a household ban on smoking in the presence of children. Although shopping malls, indoor
sporting events, nor outdoor parks, used smoking bans, on the basis of
respondents’ perceptions of smoking bans in public places, the percentage
of communities with smoke-free convenience stores, fast-food restaurants,
and restaurants increased from 2000–2001.
- With the exception of outdoor parks,
the majority of adults supported smoking bans in 2000; this majority
remained at similar levels or increased slightly in 2001.
- A person's attitude, knowledge, and
practices regarding children’s exposure to ETS often relate to if that
person has children in the home.
Respondents answering analysis forms indicated: people with
children in the home were less likely to ban smoking in the presence of
children (83.7%) than respondents without children (90.5%) and less likely
to believe that it is unacceptable for parents to smoke in front of
children (74.6%) than respondents without children (77.9%).
- In response to growing public
concern about the health effects of smoking, "improved"
cigarettes were introduced in the 1950s. A healthier smoking choice, a safe option to smoking
termination, and a first step toward quitting smoking totally, was the
marketing strategy used by the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry called the new smoking choice,
light cigarettes. Research,
however, showed: smoking-related health risks rose with the increase in
rates of smoking light cigarettes.
Yet, a recent national survey of smokers found that 58.5 percent of
adult smokers and 52.8 percent of adolescent smokers reported using light
cigarettes. More than
one-half of adolescent smokers in the United States smoke light
cigarettes. Studies indicate:
adolescents’ perception of the risks associated with smoking light
cigarettes, as well as adolescents’ attitudes and knowledge about the
delivery of tar and nicotine, health risks, social effects, addiction
potential, and ease of cessation with light cigarettes, compared with
regular cigarettes, remains limited.
- People are led to think that there
is a progression of safety levels to choose from when deciding which
cigarettes to smoke, because cigarettes are given the name lights and
ultralights. This illusion of
control over health outcomes contributes to an underestimation of risks
associated with smoking light cigarettes and supports misperceptions.
- When adolescents believe they are
less vulnerable to smoking-related health risks, skin wrinkles, asthma,
heart disease, and lung cancer, then they are more likely to initiate
smoking, and continue to smoke.
- Adolescents and some adults remain
unaware of the addictive nature of cigarettes. People continue to think that they can experiment with
smoking without becoming addicted or experiencing any health consequences.
- Information shared with adolescents
about tobacco often succeeds in changing dangerous misperceptions, both
individually by health care practitioners and at the population level by
counter-advertising campaigns.
- Despite public denials, internal
tobacco company documents indicate that adolescents have long been the
targets of cigarette advertising and promotional activities. Recent longitudinal evidence
suggests that 34 percent of new experimentation with tobacco products
occurs because of advertising and promotions.
- What happens to your lungs when you
smoke?
- Every time you inhale smoke from a
cigarette, you kill some of the air sacks in your lungs, called
alveoli. These air sacks are
situated where the oxygen you breathe in is transferred into your
blood. Alveoli never grow
back, so when you destroy them, you have permanently destroyed part of
your lungs. This means: you
will perform with lesser degrees of function than you could in activities
where breathing is important, especially sports, dancing, or singing.
- Smoking paralyzes the cilia. Cilia line your lungs. Cilia are little hair like
structures. Cilia move back
and forth to sweep particles out of your lungs. When you smoke, the cilia are unable to move and unable
do their job. Now, dust,
pollen, and other materials you inhale sit in your lungs and build
up. Certain particles in
smoke catch in your lungs without your healthy cilia to do their job. Your cilia become paralyzed. Particles sit in your lungs and
form tar.
- Many teens like the feelings that
smoking gives them. This
so-called good feeling is from the nicotine in the cigarettes. Some teens think smoking will help
them lose weight or stay thin.
People also feel as if smoking gives them a sense of freedom,
independence, and glamour.
Some people smoke to feel more comfortable in social
situations. A time is coming,
let us imagine, when medical "protectors" stationed at a doorway
to your favorite place, take high-energy pictures of your lungs, to check
to see if your lungs pass the beauty test to continue into your favorite
place.
- Nicotine can make you feel safe,
when you are in jeopardy.
Nicotine seems unimportant when you are on your deathbed.
- Smoking might help kill your
appetite for healthy food.
More smokers are overweight, than underweight. Smoking might help keep you thin,
but smoking also makes you sick, although you might be unaware of it. Your second-hand smoke makes
others sick.
- The tobacco industry has denied that
it has resolved to physiologically and clinically make their smokers
dependent.
- The tobacco industry has denied the
urgent mind-set smokers live under, concerning, what the smokers'
feel. Smokers feel an
inescapable need to smoke.
- The tobacco industry has also denied
that they knew, many years ago, the extent of smokers' compulsive
obsessions about how often smokers smoke.
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- The tobacco industry has denied the
smokers' feelings of indifference, and all too often the smokers' devaluing,
or failure to recognize the healthy needs of their own life, and at times,
the lives of their own children.
- Generally, people sometimes buy
things on impulse. The
tobacco industry targets people with behavior patterns that show a need
for more impulse control.
- The tobacco industry targets people
with emotional responses that predispose them to buying products that are
habit forming. The key is, conversely,
that tobacco products quickly cause dependency. Irrepressible feelings of need and craving drive the
tobacco user to suppress logic.
- Tobacco products control the smoker,
or chewer, although the smoker might have exhibited, before using tobacco,
infrequent impulsive personality traits. Once the tobacco user becomes a habitual tobacco user,
he or she relies on the tobacco, repeatedly, to make him or her feel
better.
- The illogical behavior, to buy and
use a harmful product, happens regardless of the of the health threats to
themselves and to others' health.
A tobacco user's sensible reasoning is often uncharacteristic to
that person before he or she began to smoke. To the addicted tobacco user, using tobacco just seems
more a small, acceptable habit.
The tobacco user continues using the addictive product. Prisons regularly control inmates
with cigarette rations.
- Cigarettes are as addictive as
cocaine or heroin.
- If you're already a smoker, try
going seven days without smoking.
If you find this difficult, you are probably addicted to cigarettes.
- People sometimes gain a few pounds
after they stop smoking because they start eating more. Food begins to taste good
again. Additionally, people
puzzled by the craving nicotine sensation, become confused by their
tobacco appetite, and think that their strong needful feelings are due to
food hunger. Then, the
ex-tobacco user eats to try to make the unpleasant, deprived sensation go
away. Smokers are also
accustomed to having something in their hands and in their mouth, so they
may pick up food to replace holding a cigarette.
- Try the following proven suggestions
to keep from gaining weight after you stop smoking:
- Chew sugarless gum.
- Drink water instead of eating when
you feel uncomfortable.
- Eat carrots or celery sticks or
other healthy, low calorie foods.
- Exercise. Exercise will also help take your mind off smoking and
make you healthier.
- Keep busy. You will be less likely to eat when you're not really
hungry if you do other things.
- Many people put off quitting
smoking, thinking that they could quit when the time is right.
- Only 5 percent of teens think they
will still be smoking in five years.
About 75 percent of the same teens are still smoking more than five
years later.
- The longer you smoke, the harder it
will be to stop and the more damage you will do to your body. Check these reasons to quit sooner
rather than later:
- Most people would rather date a
non-smoker.
- You save money when you quit
smoking. Add up the cost of a
pack of cigarettes. Even if
you smoke a pack a week, you're spending about $___ per month and $____
per year on smoking.
- Extra lungs are extremely expensive;
ask the recipient of a lung transplant about the cost in money and
pain. The damage you do to
your lungs now will haunt you, and, your smoke will hurt those near you.
- The longer you smoke, the better
your chances are of dying from it.
One out of three smokers die from smoking. Think about your friends. Your smoker friends are more
likely to live far fewer years than you, if you never smoke. Non-smokers whose mothers smoked
are more at risk.
- A recent analysis of the 1994-1997
National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse estimated in 1988, close to 5300
American adolescents 12-17 years of age experimented with cigarettes for
the first time each day. In
1995, the estimate was close to 6600/day. This study confirmed other recent work that indicated
adolescent smoking has been increasing in the United States since the
early 1990s. This study also
showed that over 3200 American adolescents progressed to daily smoking
each day in 1995, and that nearly 3400 per day progressed in 1996. These figures suggest that the
fraction of experimenters that proceed to daily smokers while between the
ages of twelve and seventeen years is about 50 percent. However, some adolescents proceed
to daily smoking after the age of seventeen years, and they are not taken
into account in the 50 percent figure.
- An analysis of the longitudinal
1989-1993 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey (TAPS) data indicated:
- Around 30 percent of adolescents
that reported experimenting with cigarettes at baseline, but had not yet
smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, had reached 100
cigarettes and were current smokers (smoked in the last 30 days) at follow
up four years later.
- A nationwide study of high-school
students found that 36 percent of those having ever tried smoking became
daily smokers. These
estimates are probably very conservative. In the TAPS study, there were many respondents that
reported no smoking ever at baseline, but reported smoking at least 100
cigarettes and were current smokers at follow up. The school survey did not include
high-school dropouts, that might have a much higher rate of progression to
daily smoking, and some students that might not become daily smokers until
after they graduate.
- Finally, daily smoking is a higher
level of addiction than a report of a lifetime consumption of at least 100
cigarettes and current smoking.
- Surveys of adults indicate: about 70
percent of respondents admitted smoking at least one cigarette also
reported smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
- A birth cohort analysis of American
data projected: 50 percent of today's new smokers will smoke until their
mid-thirties before they successfully quit; this includes those born
between 1975 and 1979 and those smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their
lifetime, which satisfied the definition of an
"ever-smoker." A
forty-year follow-up study of male physicians indicated, 50 percent of
those that continued to smoke beyond their mid-thirties died of
smoking-attributable diseases.
- An estimate from a longitudinal
sample of American smokers (including males and females), with the final
follow up in 1988, also established that about 50 percent of deaths in
current smokers age thirty-five and older can be attributed to their
smoking. Multiplying the
percentages of those reaching middle age as smokers and the expected
smoking-attributable mortality suggests: 25 percent of ever-smokers will
die of smoking-attributable diseases. Another report used data from male American veterans
studied in the late 1950s and 1960s to construct a first estimate of
smoking-attributable mortality in the general population. These mortality rates were then scaled
to the mortality rates for the American population in 1982. This study estimated that as many
as a third of heavy smokers (25 cigarettes/day) aged thirty-five years
will die of a smoking-attributable disease before they reach the age of
eight-five. Although this
estimate is lower than those from the other studies, the other studies are
more contemporaneous and have fewer methodological problems. Thus, we will use the estimate
that 25 percent (50% of 50%, rather than 33% of 50%) of ever-smokers will
die of a smoking-attributable disease.
- Essential to develop effective
interventions for smokers is the following fact: we must understand the
relationship between cigarette advertising and youth smoking. Magazine advertising accounts for
nearly half of all cigarette-advertising expenditures.
- Cross-sectional analysis of 1994
data on (1) the presence of advertising by twelve cigarette brands in a
sample of thirty nine popular US magazines; and (2) the youth (ages 12-17
years), young adult (ages 18-24 years), and total readership for each
magazine showed the presence or absence of advertising in each of the
thirty-nine magazines in 1994 for each of the twelve cigarette
brands. After controlling for
total magazine readership, the percentage of young adult readers,
advertising costs and expenditures, and magazine demographics, youth
cigarette brands (those smoked by more than 2.5% of 10- to 15-year-old
smokers in 1993) were more likely than adult brands to advertise in
magazines with a higher percentage of youth readers. Holding all other variables constant
at their sample means, the estimated probability of an adult brand
advertising in a magazine decreased over the observed range of youth
readership from 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50-0.96) for
magazines with 4 percent youth readers to 0.18 (95% CI, 0.00-0.47) for
magazines with 34 percent youth readers. In contrast, the estimated probability of youth brand
advertising in a magazine increased from 0.32 (95% CI, 0.00-0.65) at 4
percent youth readership to 0.92 (95% CI, 0.67-1.00) at 34% youth readership. Conclusion— Cigarette brands
popular among young adolescents are more likely than adult brands to be
advertised in magazines with high youth readerships.
- Logistic Regression Analysis
Predicting Smoking by the 1999 Follow-Up Interview Among Adolescent Never
Smokers at Baseline (n = 2084): The results of the logistic regression
analysis designed to identify predictors of smoking, by the time of
follow-up interviews among "never smoker" adolescents, were at
baseline and revealed: "never smokers" having friends that
smoked were approximately twice as likely to have smoked by the follow-up
interview as those reporting no smoking among family or friends. Adolescents highly receptive to
tobacco advertising and promotions were twice as likely as those that were
minimally receptive to have smoked by the follow-up interview. Susceptibility to smoking
demonstrated its usual independent and significant effect on future
smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 1.88; 95% CI = 1.45, 2.43). Adolescents with a favorite screen
star, that smoked on-screen, were also significantly more likely to have
smoked by the follow-up interview (OR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.82). A significant interaction was
observed between gender and favorite stars’ on-screen smoking status (P =
.01).
- When the multivariate analysis was
restricted to girls, having a favorite star that smoked on-screen, the
increased the risk of smoking almost twofold (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.26,
2.73). The effects of
favorite star smoking and receptivity to tobacco advertising among girls
showed that only 20 percent of adolescent girls initiated smoking if, at
baseline, they were minimally receptive to tobacco advertising and their
favorite movie star did not smoke on-screen. More than 50 percent of girls that were highly
receptive to advertising and promotions and had a favorite star that
smoked on-screen initiated smoking.
The results for boys revealed few differences according to stars’
smoking status. When the same
multivariate analysis was restricted to boys, receptivity to tobacco
industry advertising and promotions had little to effect on if a favorite
star smoked on-screen.
- The nicotine and carbon monoxide in
tobacco smoke reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood. They also damage blood vessel
walls, making clots more likely to form. Using some kinds of birth control pills combined with
smoking cigarettes greatly increases stroke risk.
- If you take oral contraceptives, get
regular check-ups. Birth
control pills can be taken for years with no harmful effects. Still, yearly checks of blood
pressure, triglycerides, and glucose are very important.
- Predisposing factors for sudden
cardiac death are similar to the risk factors for atherosclerotic heart
disease. The factors include
cigarette smoking and high blood pressure. In 90 percent of adult victims of sudden cardiac death,
two or more major coronary arteries are by atherosclerosis. Scarring from a prior heart attack
is found in two-thirds of victims.
- High blood pressure makes the heart
work harder than normal, causing it to enlarge and weaken over time. Both the heart and arteries are
then more prone to injury.
High blood pressure raises the risk of heart attacks, strokes,
kidney failure, eye damage, congestive heart failure, and atherosclerosis.
- Tobacco smoking is the single most
preventable cause of death in the United States. Smokers’ risk of heart attack is more than twice that
of nonsmokers. Smokers having
a heart attack are more likely to die and die suddenly (within an hour)
than are nonsmokers. The
nicotine and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduce the amount of oxygen
in the blood. Nicotine and
carbon monoxide also damage blood vessel walls, causing plaque to build
up. Tobacco smoke could
trigger blood clots to form, in addition.
- By reducing your HDL, your
"good" cholesterol, smoking will promote heart disease.
- Smokers with peripheral vascular
disease are also more likely to develop gangrene and require leg
amputation. Smoking is the
biggest risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, which is the
narrowing of blood vessels carrying blood to leg and arm muscles.
- Who do you think has the
"honor" of having a lower risk of death from coronary heart
disease (and possibly stroke) than people that don’t smoke cigarettes? You guessed it: cigar and pipe
smokers. This is thought to
be true because pipe and cigar smokers are less likely to inhale the
smoke.
- Cigarette smoking is the biggest
risk factor for sudden cardiac arrest. Smoking disturbs the heart rhythm in people that have
chest pain or have had a heart attack. This can lead to sudden cardiac arrest: the heart stops
pumping. Death follows within
minutes after symptoms appear.
- Constant exposure to other people’s
smoke raises the risk of heart disease and stroke even for nonsmokers.
- You will probably never know it, if
you have high cholesterol, unless you have blood tests. Many people have high cholesterol
without knowing it. Simple
blood tests can help you and your doctor track your cholesterol
levels. The risk of coronary
heart disease rises as blood cholesterol levels increase. When other risk factors (such as
high blood pressure and tobacco smoke) are present, this risk increases
even more. A blood test
called a fasting “lipoprotein profile” tells you and your doctors your
cholesterol numbers. If your
total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL or more, or if your HDL cholesterol is less
than 40 mg/dL, you might need to have a lipoprotein profile done. If your cholesterol is high or you
have other risk factors, your healthcare provider will likely want to
monitor your cholesterol more closely. Follow your health provider’s advice about how often to
have your cholesterol tested.
- As soon as you stop smoking, your
risk of heart disease starts to drop. For most people, in time, your risk will be about the
same as if you had never smoked.
- Smoking causes nine in ten cases of lung cancer. Lung cancer has one of the lowest
survival rates of all cancers, and is the most common cause of cancer
death in the UK.
- Smoking affects the risk of over a dozen cancers. Most of cancer deaths from tobacco
are preventable, by giving up smoking in time.
- Smoking increases the risk of over a dozen other
cancers including the following cancers:
·
cancer of
the mouth
·
larynx
(voice box)
·
oesophagus
(food pipe)
·
liver
·
pancreas
·
stomach
·
kidney
·
bladder
·
cervix,
·
some types
of leukaemia
- Not all smokers get cancer. Years of research, however, have proven that smoking
causes cancer. Some smokers
will not get cancer. Smoking,
nevertheless, greatly increases the risk of this disease. Smokers are much more likely to
get cancer than non-smokers.
Similar to eating sugary foods, those foods often cause tooth decay
for many people, though a few people can eat sugary foods without decayed
teeth. As you know, people
eating sugary foods are more likely to develop tooth decay than those
people that avoid such foods.
100. Half of
all smokers eventually die from cancer, or other smoking-linked factor.
Electronic Nose
Cleveland Clinic News Service
2 min 12 sec - Jan 11, 2006
www.clevelandclinic.org
If you smoke---its a concern that may be in the back
of your mind---how many puffs will lead to lung cancer.
Right now, there is no sure way to detect lung cancer early.
But researchers at The Cleveland Clinic say a computer
and a contraption that looks like a birthday helium balloon
may someday change that.
William C. Bruce
Associate Dean and Professor
College of Education and Psychology
Phone: (903) 566-7048
e-mail: wbruce@uttyler.edu
http://www.hometreemedia.org
Fax: (903) 566-7036
|
Discrepant Event Lesson, Friends, Fact Sheet
