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“The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship between active smoking and....”
From the executive summary:
“ Despite the many prior reports on the topic and
the high level of public knowledge in the United States
of the adverse effects of smoking in general, tobacco
use remains the leading preventable cause of disease
and death in the United States, causing approximately
440,000 deaths each year and costing approximately
$157 billion in annual health-related economic losses
(see Chapter 7, "The Disease Impact of Cigarette
Smoking and Benefits of Reducing Smoking").
“Nationally,
smoking results in more than 5.6 million years of
potential life lost each year. Although the rates of smoking
continue to decline, an estimated 46.2 million
adults in the United States still smoked cigarettes in
2001 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[CDC] 2003a). In 2000, 70 percent of those who smoked
wanted to quit (CDC 2002b).
“An increasingly disturbing
picture of widespread organ damage in active
smokers is emerging, likely reflecting the systemic
distribution of tobacco smoke components and their
high level of toxicity. Thus, active smokers are at higher
risk for cataract, cancer of the cervix, pneumonia, and
reduced health status generally.”
From an associated press release:
“U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona today released a new comprehensive
report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking
causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. Published 40 years
after the surgeon general's first report on smoking -- which concluded
that smoking was a definite cause of three serious diseases -- this newest
report finds that cigarette smoking is conclusively linked to diseases
such as leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney,
pancreas and stomach.
“ "We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health, but this
report shows that it's even worse than we knew," Dr. Carmona said. "The
toxins from cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows." ”
Index to chapters of complete report.
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