San Antonio Tobacco Prevention & Control Coalition
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Tobacco Facts & Statistics 
 

Everyday in the United States approximately 3,600 young people between the ages of 12 and 17 years old smoke their first cigarette.  Research indicates, the younger you are when you begin to smoke, the more likely you are to be an adult smoker.


Tobacco use includes: cigarette smoking, cigar smoking, and smokeless tobacco use. Tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world. Tobacco harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases and affects the health a person all together.
 
 
 
 

Smokeless tobacco is not a healthy substitute for cigarettes. It contains 28 known cancer causing chemicals and can lead to nicotine addiction.   

 
 
 
 

 
Whether you are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant it is beneficial to you and your baby to quit tobacco and avoid being exposed to tobacco.


 
 
 
Quitting tobacco is not easy; remember no two smokers are alike. The US Surgeon General has said, "Smoking cessation [stopping smoking] represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives." Benefits of quitting are greater for people who stop at earlier ages, but cessation is beneficial at all ages.

                         

 
 
 
 
Secondhand smoke is composed of environmental tobacco smoke, made of the smoke released from the burning end of a cigarette (side stream smoke) and the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker (mainstream smoke).
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tobacco contains 4000 chemicals with 600 identified poisons and 63 are known to cause cancer.
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