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Jonathan Brady/PA

US health report finds cigarettes are more dangerous than ever

The report warns that smoking cigarettes can cause blindness, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and liver cancer.

SMOKING CIGARETTES CAN cause even more health problems than lung cancer, including blindness, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and liver cancer, said a major US government report today.

The latest Surgeon General’s findings on the health consequences of smoking were to be formally announced at the White House, in a ceremony marking 50 years since the first landmark report of its kind warned Americans that cigarettes caused lung cancer.

Even though smoking rates are way down in the United States – 18 percent of people here now smoke compared to 42 percent five decades ago — modern cigarettes are more potent and more dangerous than ever, said Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak.

“Smokers today have a greater risk of developing lung cancer than they did when the first Surgeon General’s report was released in 1964, even though they smoke fewer cigarettes,” said Lushniak.

“How cigarettes are made and the chemicals they contain have changed over the years, and some of those changes may be a factor in higher lung cancer risks.”

Liver cancer

The report said experts now know that active smoking can cause a common form of blindness called age-related macular degeneration, as well as diabetes, colorectal cancer and liver cancer.

Smoking can also cause tuberculosis, erectile dysfunction, facial clefts in infants, ectopic pregnancy, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation, impaired immune function, and worsens the outlook for cancer patients and survivors.

Those who do not smoke but are exposed to second-hand smoke face an increased risk of stroke, said the report.

More than 20 million people in the United States have died from smoking related diseases and illnesses caused by second-hand smoke.

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature death in the United States, killing nearly half a million Americans a year.

Another 16 million people suffer from smoking-related conditions.

In Ireland, over one million people smoke and it is the leading cause of death, heart disease and chronic illness in the country, accounting for some 5,200 deaths every year. Smoking related diseases cost the HSE €1 to €2 billion to care for annually.

Aggressive strategies

The report blamed the epidemic on the “aggressive strategies of the tobacco industry, which has deliberately misled the public on the risks of smoking cigarettes.”

It is the actual burning of a cigarette that produces “the complex chemical mixture of more than 7,000 compounds that cause a wide range of diseases,” the report said.

However, it also noted that “patterns of tobacco use are changing,” as some smokers turn toward nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and other products like small flavoured cigars.

Nicotine alone is far from risk-free, particularly during pregnancy when it can interfere with foetal brain development, cause stillbirth and premature delivery.

Previous Surgeon Generals’ reports have found that nicotine is addictive, that smoking impacts nearly every organ of the body, and that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

In all, smoking has been found to cause more than a dozen kinds of cancer and even more chronic diseases.

US research released last week showed that despite a cut in the smoking rate globally, the number of smokers in the world has climbed from 721 million in 1980 to 967 million in 2012 due to population growth and the gaining popularity of cigarettes in the developing world.

- © AFP 2014 with additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.

Read: Department of Health hopes to regulate e-cigarettes this year>

Read: Smokers spend an average of 25 minutes a day outside work smoking>

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    Mute Rkmr
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:20 PM

    You would wonder why such a dangerous product is legal…oh wait profits over people!!

    163
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    Mute Niamh Curry
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:39 PM

    Took me 3 attempts to do it but went cold turkey and have kicked a 30 a day habit for 7 years now and couldn’t be happier. It works when its what you truly want but its bloody hard!

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    Mute Niall H
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    Jan 17th 2014, 5:46 PM

    Same as, tried lozenges, patches and e-cigs and on the third attempt I just went cold turkey n iv now bn off them since September. Great feeling, better than any drag!

    29
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    Mute The Doctor
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:27 PM

    What helped me quit was this thought…

    “I smell like a dirty ashtray”

    That’s not an opinion it’s a fact. When I stand next to a smoker I get embarrassed to think I used to smell the same as them. Disgusting.

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    Mute JamieKay
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:46 PM

    @the doctor you’re right I’m an ex smoker and I can’t believe I used to stink like that.it’s a horrible smell

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 17th 2014, 1:15 PM

    smokers do stink!
    the smell is bloody awful

    63
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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Jan 17th 2014, 2:13 PM

    I’m totally addicted to cigarettes and will never deny it.
    I haven’t smoked in 14 years but when I was smoking I wouldn’t go on a long flight or anywhere there was a smoking ban.
    My world revolved around smoking and the health system could put an infected lung in the packet and it wouldn’t stop me.
    I remember ashtrays in shops & hospitals and it was acceptable everywhere.
    Not things are changing and going the opposite way.
    I really feel for those trying to break the habit because it takes serious strength.
    My tip is to quit an hour at a time and keep a full (lidded) ashtray close to remind you how bad you smell.
    (Apologies for being crude)

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    Mute Cecily Lovegood
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    Jan 17th 2014, 3:34 PM

    My mother used the one-hour-at-a-time approach and it worked well for her. She was on 40 a day. You also highlight another important point: despite no longer smoking, you remain an addict. So many people fool themselves that they’ll be able to have “just one”, having been off them for a while. It’s far too easy to get sucked back in.

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    Mute Stephen Maguire
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:47 PM

    A stark contrast to the recent article on the health effects of Cannabis, negative and POSITIVE (http://www.thejournal.ie/marijauan-health-effects-legalised-medical-negative-positve-1256236-Jan2014/).

    Big tobacco is a curse on society.

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    Mute Louise Ní Riain
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    Jan 17th 2014, 12:37 PM

    Nevee reports like this on alcohol, and the damage it does too

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    Mute Stephen McManus
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    Jan 17th 2014, 1:58 PM

    Get a bank loan with repayments equivalent to how much you spend on smokes, buy something you really want like a car, motorcycle, a gadget, and make a deal with yourself to sell it if you go back smoking. You will have a permanent reason not to go back.

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    Mute Eoin Byrne
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    Jan 17th 2014, 4:11 PM

    Or else use it to buy a holiday and stock up on cheap fags. It’s a win win.

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    Mute Ian James Conway
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    Jan 17th 2014, 2:09 PM

    Off them a year next month, and it’s true smokers. You stink! And stink bad.

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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    Jan 17th 2014, 1:27 PM

    E-Cigs will be next .

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    Mute Stephen Maguire
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    Jan 17th 2014, 4:01 PM

    And rightly so

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    Mute don mur
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    Jan 17th 2014, 2:00 PM

    Any person that chooses to smoke for their lifetime and then use the public health system should be treated after non smokers. Smokers are clogging up our health system with self infected diseases

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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    Jan 17th 2014, 4:29 PM

    Oooh don dont think that was a popular comment. It looks like you won’t be getting the parachute.

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    Mute Kev
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    Jan 17th 2014, 1:32 PM

    Should be banned.

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    Mute Michael Garett
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    Jan 17th 2014, 4:51 PM

    And for those non smokers out there ye are shagged too. The pylons will get ye!

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    Mute Ian Crowley
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    Jan 17th 2014, 1:15 PM

    Smokes haven become more dangerous. We’re just understanding how dangerous they have always being.
    The headline sounds like they’ve changed in how dangerous they are.
    Are they on the Axis of Evil index yet?

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    Mute Alan.V
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    Jan 18th 2014, 11:17 AM

    It looks like us smokers are responsible for everything these days.
    I smoke and have no intention of quiting. I enjoy a smoke and always have. And I don’t belive half the cap they come out with in relation to smokers.

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