THE FACTS

Smoking is the most significant cause of preventable illness, disability and premature death in Canada (Chief Medical Officer of Health Report 1996).

·        Tobacco related disease kills 33 people a day in Ontario. Yearly, it kills 13,000 Ontarians and 45,000 Canadians.

·        Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer for both men and women.

·        The minute smoke from a cigarette touches your lips it begins to attack living tissue - it attacks the mouth, tongue, esophagus, air passages, lungs and stomach; breakdown products from the cigarette eventually reach and attack your bladder, pancreas and kidneys.

·        Women who smoke during pregnancy have an increased risk of delivering a low birthweight baby. More than one-third of all deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) are due to maternal tobacco use.

·        Secondhand smoke contains more than 40 chemicals known to cause cancer and is one of the leading causes of preventable death in Ontario.

THE GOOD NEWS

If you stop smoking before the onset of irreversible heart and circulatory disease, your body will begin to repair itself. Repair begins almost immediately.

·        Within 20 minutes of quitting, your blood pressure, pulse, and the temperature in your hands and feet all return to normal.

·        Within eight hours of quitting, the carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in your blood return to normal; and smoker's breath disappears.

·        Within 24 hours of quitting, your chance of a heart attack decreases.

·        Within 72 hours of quitting, your lung capacity will have increased and you'll find it's easier to breathe.

·        Within one to nine months of quitting, your energy level will increase; you won't cough as much; sinus congestion will be alleviated; and you won't be so short of breath.

·        Within one year of quitting, your risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker.

·        Within two years of quitting, your heart attack risk drops to near normal.

·        Within five years of quitting, the lung cancer death rate for the average pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half; your risk of stroke is reduced; and your risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancers is half that of a smoker.

·        Within 10 years of quitting, your risk of dying from lung cancer is similar to that of a non-smoker.

·        Within 15 years of quitting, your risk of heart disease is the same as that of a person who never smoked.