An Online Guide to Tobacco and Your Health

Tobacco has been around since 6, 000 B.C. Tobacco was initially used as a cure all and even helped finance the American Revolutionary War. It wasn’t until 1964 that tobacco became a health hazard. Since then every year approximately 443,000 die from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

Tobacco is the cause of more deaths than HIV, drugs, and alcohol, murders and automobile accidents combined. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death in the United States. Approximately 160, 848 people die of cancer directly related to smoking each year. Nearly 128, 497 die from cardiovascular diseases and 103,338 from respiratory diseases. Research shows that laws, policies, prevention and cessation initiatives offered by state programs can prevent this epidemic. The following resources provide tools and resources to help you learn about the consequences of tobacco and to help you or someone you love quit smoking.

General Tobacco Information

• Secondhand Smoke Facts: Fact sheet covering the basics of second hand smoke.
• What is Secondhand Smoke?: A short description of what second hand smoke is.
• Third-hand Smoke: This paper by Massachusetts General Hospital provides reasons why smokers should quit.
• History of Tobacco: A complete history of tobacco and the tobacco industry.
• Advertising: Explores the way tobacco companies approach advertising.
• What’s in it?: A list of ingredients in cigarettes.
• Types of Tobacco: Describes four types of tobacco.
• Types of Use: Explains the way tobacco can be used and how it’s used in major countries.
• What is Tobacco: A tobacco guide by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. 

Tobacco and Your Health

• Secondhand Smoke Issues: An authoritative assessment of second hand smoke and diseases caused by secondhand smoke.
• Health Effects: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention provide a fact sheet on cigarette smoking health related problems.
• Cardiovascular Diseases: Learn how cigarettes increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular diseases.  
• Emphysema: Explains what emphysema is and what causes it.
• Oral Issues: Describes the oral risks of using tobacco.
• Chronic Bronchitis and Smoke: Get the information to know how tobacco can cause chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking Cause Premature Aging: Find out how smoking affects the skin.
• Smoking And Your Health: A printable informational article by the Cleveland Clinic on the connection of smoking and heart disease.
• Oral Cancer: The Ohio Sate University Medical Center shows the link between tobacco and oral cancer.
• The Effects on the Body: A JPEG image showing the affects of tobacco on the body.

Tobacco and Women

• Effects on the Organs: A diagram showing the way that tobacco may affect a woman’s body.
• Reproductive Health: An in-depth look at the problems smoking can cause on a women’s reproductive system.
• Birth Control Pill and Smoking: Shows the increased health risk caused by tobacco and using the birth control pill.
• Women who Smoke: The American Lung Association shows the reality that women who smoke face.
• Smoking During Pregnancy: A California Department Health Services pamphlet on tobacco use during pregnancy.
• Women and Tobacco: John Hopkins explores tobacco marketing towards women.
• The use of Smokeless Tobacco: A research paper on the use of tobacco by women.
• Tobacco Statistics: A statistical fact sheet on women and tobacco use.  

Tobacco and Children/Teens

• Secondhand Smoke and Children: Discusses the health problems that children may face from second hand smoke.
• Helping Kids Say No: Parents can teach children to say no to tobacco with these tips.
• Use of Tobacco by Youth: Explores the use of tobacco use in youth, such as prevention, addiction and how youths purchase tobacco.
• Trends of Cigarette Smoking in High School: The Wisconsin Medical Journal studies the trends of smoking in high school.
• Smoking in Middle Schools: Statistics of the use of tobacco in middle school.
• Use in Youth and Young Adults: An American Medical Association PowerPoint Presentation exploring the use of tobacco in youth and young adults.
• Companies Targeting Kids: A report of how the tobacco industry targets youth.
• A Parents Guide: A parents guide to dealing with the possibility of a child smoking.
• Cigarette Ads Affect Children: A University of Arizona study shows that tobacco companies’ advertising is pointed towards youth.
• The Facts About Tobacco and Kids: The American College of Physicians investigates the need of FDA regulations to decrease the use of tobacco by kids.

Quitting Tobacco

• Making the Decision: Coming to the conclusion to stop is just has difficult as trying to stop. Get the answers to make a decision to stop.
• Quit Tobacco Fact Sheets: Get 14 fact sheets to help you quit.
• Reasons to Quit: A guide to why it’s important to be smoke free.
• Benefits of Quitting for Women: A women’s health page addressing the reasons women shouldn’t smoke.
• 10 Reason to Not Smoke: Straight to the point on why not to smoke.
• How to Quit: Need advice on how to stop? This paper tells you what to expect.
• Quit Smoking: This site offers an incredible amount of information for smokers to quit today.
• Nicotine Replacement Therapy: Shows the advantages of using a nicotine replacement therapy.
• Nicotine Addiction: Find out how just one cigarette is dangerous and addictive.
• Nicotine Replacement: The San Francisco Stop Smoking Campaign offers a stop smoking guide.

Tobacco Control

• It can Harm Children: The FDA’s plan to require warning labels on cigarette packages.
• Tobacco Sales to Kids: New federal rules pertaining to the sale of cigarettes to children and teens.
• Tobacco Taxes: New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines speaks on how higher sales tax will help nearly 80,000 adults stop smoking and prevent 160, 000 youth from smoking.
• Tobacco Free: An international tobacco free kids campaign based in Washington D.C.
• Youth Marketing Restrictions: California’s Attorneys General settlement with the tobacco industry on youth marketing restrictions.
• The Truth Campaign: The scary truth about tobacco and advertising campaigns of tobacco companies.
• Tobacco Farming Proposal: A tobacco farming proposal giving the U.S. Food and Drug Agency authority over tobacco products.
• Product Warning Labels: A fact sheet on tobacco warning labels.