Effect of Smoking on Life Span by Janet Brigham

"Action on Smoking and Health" tells
us that a 30-year-old smoker can
expect to live about 35 more years,
whereas a 30-year-old nonsmoker
can expect to live 53 more years. The
children of a parent or parents who
smoke may be at risk from the genetic
damage done to the parent before
conception (because of their previous
smoking), the direct effects to them in
the womb, and the passive smoke
they are exposed to after they are
born.
{"Smokers urged to weigh the 'facts'
during the 'Great American Smoke-
Out,' Vital Signs, The Daily Progress,
Charlottesville, Virginia, Nov. 14, 1993,
written by June Russell, a member of
Smoke-Free Charlottesville}
The amount of life expectancy lost for
each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28
minutes, and the years of life
expectancy a typical smoker loses is
25 years.
{"Dying to Quit," 1998 book by Janet
Brigham}
Every cigarette a man smokes reduces
his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of
cigarettes thus represents a day and a
half of lost life. Every year a man
smokes a pack a day, he shortens his
life by almost 2 months.
{University of California, Berkeley
Wellness Letter, April 2000}
There are some 1.1 billion people
who smoke on our planet earth. Just
less than one-third of all adults in the
world smoke regularly. Tobacco
deaths will not only occur in old age
but will start when smokers are about
age 35. Half of those who die from
smoking-related causes will die in
middle age, each losing about 25
years of life expectancy. More than
95% of the tobacco consumed is in
the form of cigarettes. About half of all
smokers who undergo lung cancer
take up smoking again.
{"Dying to Quit," a 1998 book by Janet
Brigham}
http:// www.jrussellshealth. com/
smoking.html