Holli Powell's Public Library

The S.C. House -- aided by Gov. Mark Sanford's veto -- killed a 50-cent per
pack cigarette tax increase designed to expand health care coverage for
low-income residents.

Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone,
each year it is responsible for:



• an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with
  smokers 
  
• about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults 
  
• other breathing problems in non-smokers, including coughing, mucus, chest
  discomfort, and reduced lung function 
  
• 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in
  children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000
  hospitalizations 
  
• increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1
  million children who have asthma 
  
• more than 750,000 middle ear infections in children

The 2006 US Surgeon General's report reached several important conclusions:




• Secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and in
  adults who do not smoke. 
  
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden
  infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and
  more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes breathing (respiratory) symptoms
  and slows lung growth in their children. 
  
• Secondhand smoke immediately affects the heart and blood circulation in a
  harmful way. It also causes heart disease and lung cancer. 
  
• The scientific evidence shows that there is no "safe" level of exposure to
  secondhand smoke. 
  
• Many millions of Americans, both children and adults, are still exposed to
  secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces despite a great deal of progress
  in tobacco control. 
  
• The only way to fully protect non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke
  indoors is to prevent all smoking in that indoor space or building. Separating
  smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot
  keep non-smokers from being exposed to secondhand smoke.

The younger you are when you begin to smoke, the more likely you are to be an
adult smoker. Almost 90% of adult smokers started at or before the age 19.
 People who start smoking at younger ages are more likely to develop
long-term nicotine addiction than people who start later in life.

Each day, more than 4,000 people under the age of 18 try their first
cigarette and another 1,300 become regular, daily smokers. Of those, about a
third will die from a smoking-related disease in the future.

• Cigarettes (about 8%) were the most common type of tobacco used, followed by
  cigars (about 5%), spit or other smokeless tobacco (about 3%), pipes (about 3%),
  bidis (about 2%), and kreteks (about 2%). 

• Boys (about 13%) were slightly more likely than girls (about 11%) to use
  some form of tobacco. Although girls were slightly more likely to smoke
  cigarettes, boys were more likely to use spit or other smokeless tobacco, bidis,
  kreteks, pipes, or cigars.

• Nationwide, about 28% of high school students reported using some type of
  tobacco (cigarette, cigar, pipe, bidi, kretek, or spit tobacco) on at least 1 of
  the 30 days before the survey. 
  
• On average, more than 1 out of 5 students (23%) smoked cigarettes. Girls
  were equally as likely to smoke as boys. White students (25%) were more likely
  to smoke than black (11%), Hispanic/Latino (22%), or Asian (11%) students. 
  
  
• About 8% of high school students reported using spit or other smokeless
  tobacco at least once in the 30 days before the survey. Nearly 14% of all the
  boys and more than 2% of all the girls surveyed had used some form of
  spitsmokeless tobacco. 
  
• About 14% of high school students had smoked cigars in the last 30 days.
  Male students (19%) were more likely to smoke cigars than female students
  (9%). 
  
• Other tobacco use among high school students included pipes (about 3%),
  bidis (about 3%), and kreteks (about 2%).

Whites 21.9%
African Americans 23.0%
Hispanics 15.2%
American
Indians/Alaska Natives 32.4%
Asian Americans 10.4%

Using tobacco can also damage a woman's reproductive health. Tobacco use is
linked with reduced fertility and a higher risk of miscarriage, early delivery
(premature birth), stillbirth, infant death, and is a cause of low birth-weight
in infants. It has also been linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Cigarettes, cigars, and spit and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco
leaves, as well as ingredients added for flavor and other properties. More than
4,000 individual chemicals have been identified in tobacco and tobacco smoke.
Among these are more than 60 chemicals that are known carcinogens
(cancer-causing agents).