As a newly married Michigan man, my father smoked in bed, that is until my mother banned the behavior. By the time I’d become a teenager, Dad either smoked outside or in a specified bathroom. During his last years, my father was a closet smoker. Even his grandchildren were ignorant of his habit. In the past ten years, my father and several of his cousins have all lost their lives to cancer. Cause—cigarette smoking.

Approximately 45.3 million people or 20.8% of the United States population smokes—cigarettes. Those aged 18-24 years are the largest category (23.9% of all smokers), followed up by those 25-44 years old (23.5%). The habit is more common among men than women, and is rated highest in Indians/Alaskan Natives (32.4% of smokers), followed by African Americans (23%), whites (21.9%), Hispanics (15.2%), and Asians (10.4%).

Smoking leads to 438,000 deaths (1 out of 5) yearly. It is estimated that 38,000 of these deaths result from secondhand smoke exposure. In fact, more Americans die from smoking each year, than all deaths from HIV, illegal drug and alcohol usage, car accident injuries, murders, and suicides combined. Smokers will die on average, 14 years earlier than nonsmokers—that’s approximately 25 million living Americans , 5 million of them younger than age 18.

Cigarette smoking leads to lung cancer, heart disease, chronic lung diseases—emphysema, bronchitis, erectile dysfunction, and airway obstruction.

Secondhand smoke is practically firsthand, a mix of gases, it contains a minimum of 250 toxic chemicals. More than 50 of these are causes of cancer. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer even in nonsmoking adults. It also raises their heart disease risk by 25-30% and their lung cancer risk by 20-30%.

Just about 22 million kids breathe in secondhand smoke. You’ll see them riding and breathing in smoke in closed cars (approximately 60% of U.S. children ages 3-11). For the children of smokers, exposure reduces their lung growth, results in respiratory symptoms, is a cause of SIDS, respiratory infections, ear problems, and asthma attacks. Even brief exposure is unacceptably dangerous. 7,500 – 15,000 children under the age of 18 months will be hospitalized each year from bronchitis or pneumonia, initiated by secondhand smoking.

Mothers who smoke, prior to delivery, can expect delivery complications, premature delivery, infants with low birth weights ( a leading cause of infant death), or stillbirth. The nicotine from cigarettes constricts blood vessels in the umbilical cord and uterus, reducing oxygen necessary for the baby. The chemical is also present in breast milk. Only 18-25% of women who smoke quit during pregnancy.

During my lifetime, smoking tolerance has been withdrawn from school campuses, homes, airliners, restaurants, and other public facilities. And during the last ten years, smoking bans have become a precedent in most countries around the world. Yet children, like my younger self, still suffer from the abuse of smokers, incurring debilitating and perhaps lifelong side effects. But hey, in The United States of America, it’s still OK in many places to light up.

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