Scientists have added more diseases to the long list of dangers of smoking cigarettes, the U.S. Surgeon General reports.
Lung cancer and heart disease have long been associated with smoking. But 13 cancers are now linked to the habit and secondhand smoke, according to the 32nd report on tobacco released Friday by Dr. Boris Lushniak , M.D., the acting U.S. Surgeon General.
For the first time, the report found that smoking could cause diabetes, erectile dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, macular degeneration, ectopic pregnancies and impaired immune function. Additionally, smokers have up to a 40 percent increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, compared with nonsmokers. Liver and colorectal cancers have also been added to the list of dangers.
“Enough is enough,” acting Surgeon General Borish Lushniak declared at a White House ceremony unveiling the 980-page report, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General (pdf), that pushes to make the next generation smoke-free, according to the Daily News.
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1964 surgeon general’s report that started the anti-smoking movement. As a result, an estimated 18 percent of adults today are smokers, down from more than 42 percent in 1964.
Twenty years ago, male smokers were about twice as likely as female smokers to die early from smoking-related diseases, the report says. Now, women are dying at rates as high as men from many of these diseases, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart disease.
“Smokers today have a greater risk of developing lung cancer than they did when the first Surgeon General’s report was released in 1964, even though they smoke fewer cigarettes,” Lushniak said in a news release. “How cigarettes are made and the chemicals they contain have changed over the years, and some of those changes may be a factor in higher lung cancer risks. Of all forms of tobacco, cigarettes are the most deadly – and cause medical and financial burdens for millions of Americans.”
Nearly half a million people will die from smoking-related diseases this year, the report says. Each day, more than 3,200 youths pick up their first cigarette. New products such as e-cigarettes, whose effects that aren’t yet fully understood, complicate the public health message.
And if current trends continue, the report says, 5.6 million of today’s children and teens will go on to die prematurely during adulthood because of smoking, the report says.
“Today, we’re asking Americans to join a sustained effort to make the next generation a tobacco-free generation,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in the release.
“This is not something the federal government can do alone. We need to partner with the business community, local elected officials, schools and universities, the medical community, the faith community, and committed citizens in communities across the country to make the next generation tobacco free.”
Scientists have added more diseases to the long list of dangers of smoking cigarettes, the U.S. Surgeon General reports.
Lung cancer and heart disease have long been associated with smoking. But 13 cancers are now linked to the habit and secondhand smoke, according to the 32nd report on tobacco released Friday by Dr. Boris Lushniak , M.D., the acting U.S. Surgeon General.
For the first time, the report found that smoking could cause diabetes, erectile dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, macular degeneration, ectopic pregnancies and impaired immune function. Additionally, smokers have up to a 40 percent increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, compared with nonsmokers. Liver and colorectal cancers have also been added to the list of dangers.
“Enough is enough,” acting Surgeon General Borish Lushniak declared at a White House ceremony unveiling the 980-page report, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General (pdf), that pushes to make the next generation smoke-free, according to the Daily News.
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1964 surgeon general’s report that started the anti-smoking movement. As a result, an estimated 18 percent of adults today are smokers, down from more than 42 percent in 1964.
Twenty years ago, male smokers were about twice as likely as female smokers to die early from smoking-related diseases, the report says. Now, women are dying at rates as high as men from many of these diseases, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart disease.
“Smokers today have a greater risk of developing lung cancer than they did when the first Surgeon General’s report was released in 1964, even though they smoke fewer cigarettes,” Lushniak said in a news release.
“How cigarettes are made and the chemicals they contain have changed over the years, and some of those changes may be a factor in higher lung cancer risks. Of all forms of tobacco, cigarettes are the most deadly – and cause medical and financial burdens for millions of Americans.”
Nearly half a million people will die from smoking-related diseases this year, the report says. Each day, more than 3,200 youths pick up their first cigarette. New products such as e-cigarettes, whose effects that aren’t yet fully understood, complicate the public health message.
And if current trends continue, the report says, 5.6 million of today’s children and teens will go on to die prematurely during adulthood because of smoking, the report says.
“Today, we’re asking Americans to join a sustained effort to make the next generation a tobacco-free generation,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in the release.
“This is not something the federal government can do alone. We need to partner with the business community, local elected officials, schools and universities, the medical community, the faith community, and committed citizens in communities across the country to make the next generation tobacco free.”
Diabetes, Colon Cancer Also Linked To Smoking was originally published on newsone.com
