Smoking Will Kill 1 Billion People

One billion people will die from tobacco-related causes by the end of the century if current consumption trends continue, according to a global report released Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

At a press conference held in midtown Manhattan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, contributed $2 million to conduct the study, joined top WHO officials to present the findings. Among the litany of sobering statistics: 5.4 million people die each year — one every six seconds — from lung cancer, heart disease or other illness directly linked to tobacco use. Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and the yearly death toll could pass 8 million as soon as 2030 — 80% of those deaths will be in the developing world, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly. "We're on a collision course," said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

In my Opinion:

If you don't smoke you are not out of harms way yet. Passive smoking is breathing in another persons cigarette smoke off the end of the cigarette. It is just as dangerous as inhaling from the cigarette. It can cause bodybuilders to have irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, increase acute respiratory illness, headaches, dizziness, sickness, coughing, wheezing, asthma, allergies, increased risk of CHD, and reduced levels of capacity of lung functions.