Smoking, it's harmful to you and your wallet.

It is generally common knowledge that smoking is very harmful to your health. But there are a vast number of facts that only a few experts know, which aren't frequently shared with the public. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, ranked among America's Best Hospital's 2008 US News & World Report Honor Roll, put together a series of facts that all people need to know about smoking and its negative effects.

• Cigarettes and cigarette smoke contain more than 4,000 harmful ingredients. Many of these cause cancer.
  

• Smoking and second-hand smoke cause over 430,000 preventable deaths each year.

• Smoking causes more than 230,000 deaths from heart and blood vessel disease each year in the United States.

• Cigarette smoking is a major cause of fire- related deaths.
  

• Cigarette smoke ruins many aspects of your life - your clothes, your furniture, even your family and social relationships.

• Each day, more than 5,000 children try smoking, and 3,000 become hooked.

• Asthma, bronchitis, and respiratory and ear infections increase in children of smokers. Your children don't deserve to deal with health issues because you are careless with your own health.

• Smoking-related diseases generate more than $50 billion a year in medical costs.

Packs of cigarettes cost anywhere from $4 to $7, which may not seem like a lot, but that money adds up. Frequent smokers who smoke a pack a day are paying anywhere from $28 to $49 a week on cigarettes. In a month that would mean that people would be paying anywhere from $112 to $196, and in one year, one would have spent anywhere from $1344 to $2352. And after 5 years, one would pay $6720 to $11760, just on cigarettes. Add this cost to the cost of medical bills caused by smoking and insurance costs since they are a health risk, in a period of five years, a pack a day smoker would end up paying nearly $26720 to $31760 just to enjoy their beloved cigarettes. So please, if you don't value your health, at least value your wallet.




http://patienteducation.upmc.com/Pdf/SmokingFacts.pdf
http://patienteducation.upmc.com/Pdf/SmokingYourHeart.pdf http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/photos/uncategorized/doctor.jpg
http://www.csmngt.com/smokers%20lung.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp2.blogger.com/_cbnRzVflZuI/RrvC_G3NzaI/AAAAAAAAAT0/nU9zIqrFnJw/s320/smoking%2Bcartoon-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://lifeinthehealthlane.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-is-smoking-health-issue.html&h=320&w=320&sz=32&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=D0DFOaOVhiXuyM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsmoking%2Bhealth%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG


Posted by: Ryan
Credible Communicators (Message #1)