20 Disturbing Facts About Smoking Cigarettes

United States companies make more money selling cigarettes to other countries than they do selling to Americans.

Urea, a chemical compound found in urine or in car engines (to reduce pollutants from exhaust) is used to add flavor to cigarettes.

For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.

Approximately 69% of smokers want to quit completely. Approximately 52% of smokers attempted to quit in 2010. These are smokers who stopped more than 1 day because they were trying to quit.

Smokers have a 44% higher chance of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to non-smokers, according to a study of University of Lausanne.

By 2020, cigarettes will be killing about 10 million people each year. They have already knocked off 100 million people in the 20th century, and if this continues, they could kill one billion in the 21st century.

On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.

During 2000–2004, cigarette smoking was estimated to be responsible for $193 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States (nearly $96 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $97 billion in lost productivity).

Second-hand smoke causes more than 600 000 premature deaths per year. In 2004, children accounted for 28% of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke.

Nicotine is five to 10 times more potent than cocaine or morphine