Jump to full article: Lynchburg (VA) News & Advance, 2009-11-17
Intro: It makes no sense. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in the United States. It also causes cancer, heart disease and other fatal conditions.
Yet, just when federal officials were hoping for further reductions in the number of adults who smoke, the figures go up slightly. . . .
Supporters of the FDA bill cited figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that smokers cost the country $96 billion a year in direct health care costs. They also cost an additional $97 billion a year in lost productivity. That includes the days they were not able to work because of illness caused by smoking.
The adult smoking rate has been dropping since the mid-1960s when roughly 2 out of 5 U.S. adults smoked. Now it's 1 in 5. But federal health goals for 2010 had hoped to bring to bring the rate down to close to 1 in 10, cutting it in half again.
The health problems caused by smoking are clear and undeniable. Smokers also inflict many of those same problems on those around them who do not smoke, according to the American Lung Association, among other organizations.
If potentially new smokers would only take a look at the statistics, they would know how harmful -- and how addictive -- smoking is to their health. The most sensible course -- for children and adults -- is to avoid that first cigarette.
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