Five facts about smoking and cancer on #worldcancerday

1. It’s not just lung cancer. The Surgeon General’s Office has linked more than 12 types of cancer to smoking, including cancer of the stomach, bladder, kidneys, and liver. In its 2014 report on smoking and health, the Surgeon General said that one-in-three cancer deaths were related to smoking.

2. The major cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies spend $9.6 billion a year – more than one million dollars each hour – on marketing, according to the most recent data from the Federal Trade Commission. That means that tobacco companies spend $20 to market their deadly products for every $1 the states spend on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.”

3. Only 7 percent of teenagers in grades 8, 10, and 12 reported smoking a cigarette in the last 30 days in 2015, the lowest recorded levels since data tracking began 41 years ago. That means that teen cigarette smoking hit a historic low, according to data released by the annual Monitoring the Future report.

4. Alternative tobacco products are creating new challenges: The teen smoking rate rises 11.2 percent when little cigars are included, and 70 percent of young smokers have used flavored tobacco products. 

5. The fight to #FinishIt is not over. Every day more than 3,200 children smoke their first cigarette, according to the Surgeon General, which estimated that 5.6 million children alive today will die prematurely of tobacco-related illness.