Primary risks of Smoking

Regular smokers are estimated to live to 2.5 to 10 years less than nonsmokers.About one-half of male smokers will die of illness due to smoking.

Tobacco related illnesses kill approximately 438,000 USA citizens per year,about 1,205 per day, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. The World Health Organization has stated that tobacco is set to kill a billion people this century..

The main health risks in tobacco pertain to diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular smoking being a major risk factor for a myocardial infarction (heart attack), diseases of the respiratory tract such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and emphysema, and cancer, particularly lung cancer and cancers of the larynx and mouth. It also increases the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 75%. Prior to World War I, lung cancer was considered to be a rare disease, which most physicians would never see during their career. With the postwar rise in popularity of cigarette smoking came a virtual epidemic of lung cancer.

Currently, among people who have ever smoked any kind of tobacco, almost one in ten will develop lung cancer.One in six men who continue to smoke tobacco will develop lung cancer. This compares to only one case of lung cancer in seventy-five lifelong non-smokers.

Incidence of impotence is approximately 85 percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers,and it is a key cause of erectile dysfunction (ED).Smoking causes impotence because it promotes arterial narrowing.

A person's increased risk of contracting disease is directly proportional to the length of time that a person continues to smoke as well as the amount smoked. However, if someone stops smoking, then these chances gradually decrease as the damage to their body is repaired.