What smoking will do to you

• Tobacco use kills around 4700 people in New Zealand every year.

• At least 50 percent of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit – an average of 14 years early.

• Smoking causes one in four of all cancer deaths in New Zealand. Cancers other than lung cancer which are linked to smoking include: bladder cancer, leukaemia, liver cancer, cancer of the kidney, cancer of the pancreas, cancers of the mouth,
lip and throat, lung cancer and stomach cancer.

• Cigarette smoking increases the risk of having a heart attack by two or three times, compared with the risk to non-smokers.

• Smokers have a 10-16 times greater risk of developing peripheral vascular disease which may lead to amputation of one or both legs.

• Women who smoke and take the contraceptive pill have 10 times the risk of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease compared with those who take the pill but are non-smokers. Smoking has also been linked with an increased likelihood of menstrual problems (although not with PMT).

• Smoking leads to an earlier menopause: on average women smokers go through the menopause up to 2 years earlier than non-smokers and are at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis.

• Smoking has been associated with increased sperm abnormalities and with impotence in men.

• Smoking during pregnancy leads to an increased risk of:

spontaneous abortion (miscarriage);
bleeding during pregnancy;
premature birth;
low weight of babies at birth (which is associated with greater risks of ill health and failure to thrive);
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death).

• The risks from smoking pipes and cigars can be as great as smoking cigarettes. Smokers who inhale pipe and cigar smoke are just as much at risk of developing lung cancer as cigarette smokers. All cigar and pipe smokers have a higher risk
than anyone else of developing cancers of read more