STRAIGHT ANSWERS TO THE BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT SMOKING

The first thing to look at on any pack of cigarettes isn't the brand name-it's the warning label on each one. There are four different warning labels:

• Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.
• Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.
• Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight.
• Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide.

The federal government requires cigarette companies to print one of those four warning labels on every pack of cigarettes. That's because scientists have evidence that smoking is a factor in about 435,000 deaths each year. Most of which are from heart and blood vessel diseases.

WHAT REALLY GOES DOWN WHEN YOU LIGHT UP?

When you smoke, your heart beats faster because of the nicotine in tobacco. Your heart needs more oxygen to work harder. That's only the beginning of the down side of smoking. Cigarette smoke in your lungs produces carbon monoxide. It deprives your heart of oxygen when is needs it the most. As if that's not bad enough, smoking causes a narrowing of the blood vessels. That raises you blood pressure. So what goes down when up light up? Your odds of having a long and healthy life!

IS THE RISK OF HEART ATTACK IN EVERY PACK?

You'd better believe it! People with a pack-a-day habit are twice as likely to have a heart attack as people who have never smoked. Your risk is three times greater if you smoke more than one pack a day. In fact, kids who start smoking are playing with fire-because the earlier you start smoking, the higher you risk of a heart attack.

IF I STOP SMOKING, DO MY UNHEALTHY ODDS EVEN OUT?

Even if you've been a heavy smoker for quite awhile, quitting greatly reduces your risk of heart attack. If a cardiovascular disease hasn't already begun to affect your health, your body can return to a normal, healthy state. If a disease has started, your body won't return to normal-but your odds of suffering a heart attack still go down. So when you look at the odds, it's easy to see-smoking is for losers!

WHAT'S THE HAZARD IN SMOKING SAFER CIGARETTES?

No cigarette is safe! Low-tar and low-nicotine don't mean that a cigarette isn't hazardous to you health. The truth is, nothing can make smoking either safe or acceptable. It's a simple as this-if you light up, you get burned.

CAN'T THEY JUST FILTER OUT THE RISK FACTORS?

No way! It's just more tobacco industry hype. The truth is no filter can keep tar in cigarettes from sticking to your lungs or staining your fingers and teeth. Tar still enters your body-and that's where the damage is done. The tobacco industry wants you to think that filtered cigarettes protect you from the risk of heart attack-but they have no evidence to back up their claim. The fact is, smoking more frequently addicts you to nicotine, and a filter probably makes you inhale more deeply or smoke more frequently to get that nicotine. So in some ways, filtered cigarettes feed a smoking habit instead of filtering the damaging effects.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER REASONS TO BADMOUTH SMOKING?

Plenty. Smoking makes your breath, hair and clothes smell musty and foul. It pollutes the air and makes nonsmokers get on your case wherever you go. Look at it this way-do you want a date who has bad breath, stained teeth and clothes that smell lousy? Who does?

THEN WHY DOES ANYONE LIGHT UP TO BEGIN WITH?

A lot of smokers admit that they started smoking as teenagers, either because of peer pressure or because their parents or older brothers and sisters smoked. Kids are only human-so when they're surrounded by cigarettes, matches and lighters, and ashtrays all of the time, it's tempting to pick up a cigarette and try it out. That's how you pick up an addictive habit that's hard to put sown later-when you know better!

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO SOLD ON SMOKING?

It's the dangerous power of media in America. Cigarette companies want your money. They spend billions of dollars every year trying to sell you false images. They try to make smoking look glamorous and sophisticated, or exciting and adventurous. In short, they want to get you hooked on paying good money for a bad habit that can cost you your life in the end. But when you refuse to buy into smoking, you beat them at their own game-by letting your individuality and sense of style speak for you!

HOW DO I SAY NO TO SMOKING WHEN MY FRIENDS PUT THE HEAT ON?

Real friends take you at your word-even when that word is NO! Besides, you won't be by yourself if you refuse to smoke-most teenagers don't. In fact, only 11 percent of all teenagers in America are smokers. Remember that good friends don't ask you to do something that's bad for you or makes you feel uncomfortable. Remind them that lighting a cigarette is like a fuse to a time bomb that can blow all of you away permanently-a time bomb called heart disease!


FROM:     THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION