U.S. each year, including 4,000 from lung cancer, second-hand smoke has been granted status as a known human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency.
When the Surgeon General first advised about the dangers of smoking in 1964, 52 percent of Americans smoked. The percentage is now down to 27 percent, thanks largely to warnings, smoking cessation programs, restrictive indoor air policies, education, social pressures and the availability of the transdermal nicotine patch. These have helped turn the tide against the clout of the tobacco industry.
The Healthy People 2000 goal is to reduce cigarette smoking to no more than 15 percent of adults, reduce the initiation of smoking by children so that no more than 15 percent have become regular smokers by age 20 and increase the number of women who quit smoking during pregnancy to at least 60 percent.
Because it is a matter of choice and takes so many lives, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America. Smoking is an addiction, perhaps the most deadly form of drug dependence, and is a difficult habit to break. But quitting is possible, as over 44 million ex-smokers in the U.S. can confirm.
