Dangers of smoking

Every time you smoke a cigarette, you breathe in ammonia, arsenic, butane, cadmium, ethanol, toluene, and more. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemicals, 37 of which cause cancer. Smokeless tobacco, too is deadly, containing cancer-causing substances.

It’s no surprise that tobacco use leads to one of every five deaths in the United States. Tobacco kills more Americans than HIV/AIDS, alcohol, illegal drugs, car wrecks, suicide, and murder combined.

You’ve probably heard that smoking causes lung cancer. But did you know that tobacco attacks nearly every part your body? View the body to the right for a rundown of some of the damage tobacco does—from your brain to your big toe.

For more information, please click the following links:

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• National Institute on Drug Abuse
• The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Right Decisions Right Now
• American Lung Association