The Dangers of Smoking - Things You May Not Know!

Do you think smoking makes you look cool and mature? Well, it does - if wrinkles and yellow teeth are the look you want! Find out how cigarettes damage your body every time you take a puff.

Smoking - Smoking Stinks!

For their small size, cigarettes pack in a ton of chemicals including tar (not the black gooey liquid that's used on roads, but just as gross), carbon monoxide (the same stuff released by cars) and nicotine, which causes a temporary tingly feeling, or headrush, and is highly addictive. That means you'll get so used to it that you'll need it just to feel normal! Smoking kills hundreds of thousands of people each year cuz it causes diseases like bronchitis, emphysema (breakdown of lung tissue), heart disease and many types of cancers including lung and mouth. Some of these illneses may not affect you until you're older, but there are a bunch of problems that'll hit you right away:

Yellow teeth

Really bad breath

Stinky clothes and hair

Lots of coughing, even though you're not sick

Less endurance when playing sports (nicotine makes it hard for blood to move around in your body, which makes you feel tired and cranky)

Smoking - Sweetening the Poison

Tobacco companies are using flavors like pineapple and coconut to get teens to light up. With names like Twista Lime, Kauai Kolada and Warm Winter Toffee, they sound like the ice cream flavor of the week, but are actually the latest line of flavored cigarettes. The marketing ploy seem to be working cuz a 2005 survey found 20% of teens smoked flavored cigarettes compared with just 6% of smokers over 25. But just cuz they're flavored doesn't mean these cigarettes are less dangerous. They contain all the same chemicals as regular cigarettes!

Smoking - Smokin' Facts

A single cigarette takes about five to 20 minutes off a person's life.

About 4.5 million American teens are smokers.

Almost 90% of smokers take their first puff before their 21st birthday.

An estimated 438,000 people in the US die from smoking-related diseases each year.

For more info on the dangers of smoking, head to the American Lung Association.

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