Health Topics | Tobacco Information |
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• There are over 4000 chemicals in cigarettes, 67 of these chemicals cause cancer.
• These chemicals include ammonia (floor cleaner), arsenic (rat poison), butane
(lighter fluid), gas chamber poisoning, formaldehyde (preservation of body tissue),
methane (rocket fuel) and cadmium (batteries).
• The three main components of cigarettes are carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar.
a) Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colorless, poisonous gas. Carbon monoxide
replaces the oxygen in the body's red blood cells, so the body does not get the
oxygen it needs when you smoke. As a result, most smokers experience a
shortness of breath.
b) Tar is the dark substance that carries the nicotine to the lungs. It is a sticky black
substance made up of thousands of chemicals and stains teeth and skin yellow.
c) Nicotine is the addictive substance within cigarettes. Nicotine is a drug that is a
powerful mood altering substance. As a result, cigarettes are more addictive
and harder to quit than heroin or cocaine.
Health Facts
• Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in
Canada. 47,000 Canadians die from smoking.
• In Ontario, tobacco products kill some 12,000 people a year. This is fours times
more than the number of people who die from car accidents, suicides, murder
and AIDS combined.
• Smoking is associated with lung cancer and heart disease, two of the leading
causes of illness and death.
• Smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to get coronary heart disease and/or to have
a stroke than non-smokers.
• Smoking is the major cause of lung cancer in both men and women. It is also the
leading cause of deaths related to cancer. Four out of five lung cancers are linked
to cigarette smoking.
• Smokeless tobacco causes cancer of the mouth, tongue and throat.
Tobacco use has also been linked to cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, bladder,
kidney, cervix and pancreas.
Costs of Smoking
• Smoking a pack a day costs $2,500.00 a year.
• The treatment of diseases caused by tobacco, like heart disease and cancer
requires more than 1 million hospital days per year in Ontario.
• Health care costs related to smoking cost Ontario taxpayers over $1 billion a year.
Revenue from tobacco taxes is only $356 million; that is, less than half the amount
spent on health care costs.
Smoking Rates
• 21% of the Canadian population aged 15 or older are current smokers &
19% of the Ontario population are current smokers. (CTUMS, 2002)
• In Brant Haldimand Norfolk, 33% of adults aged 25 to 44 years smoke daily or
occasionally. This is statistically higher than the province as a whole.
For more information on smoking rates in Brant County, see the Community Health Status Report under "Stats & Reports".
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 February 2009 ) | |||
