ACLS Online Library: Tobacco Resources Online - Fact Sheets

According to the World Health Organization, more than half of the people who use tobacco die as a result of its influence. Many people embrace tobacco as a calming agent and a recreational prop. The addictive substance, however, offers many dangers, ranging from heart disease to cancer. The National Cancer Institute reports that tobacco contains at least 28 different cancer-causing chemicals, including nitrosamines. In addition to that, trace amounts of arsenic and acetone are regularly found in tobacco.

Even if tobacco users could avoid the impact of carcinogens, they may not escape other detriments. Bone loss and tooth decay afflict many tobacco users, killing mouth cells and reducing the levels of vitamin C in the body. Despite that, factsheets show that more than 4,000 daily join the ranks of tobacco users. Wily advertising campaigns aimed at kids and tempting flavored cigarettes snag youngsters as early as sixth grade, studies show. The following factsheets provide information and trace the impact of widespread tobacco use

Tobacco Facts and Fact sheets

• World Tobacco Facts: This May 2010 factsheet by the World Health Organization suggests that by 2030 more than 8 million will have died from tobacco use.
• Tobacco Tidbits: This PBS factsheet offers a range of miscellaneous tobacco facts, including the statement that tobacco-based cigarettes are also laced with arsenic.
• Smokeless Forms of Tobacco: This 28-page pamphlet of facts discusses not just cigarettes and chewing tobacco, but also various forms of smokeless tobacco. 
• Tobacco Marketing: Fact pamphlet bullets impact of deceptively persuasive marketing.
• Resources for Tobacco Facts: This list includes direct links to downloadable fact sheets on tobacco and its connection to taxes, advertising, and sales.
• Tobacco Control Data: This set of factsheet links compiled by the California Department of Health includes data on the impact of tobacco among pregnant woman and young adults. Also links to statistics on quitting tobacco use.
• Tobacco Perceptions and Exposure: This factsheet circulated by the state of Maine looks at how teens are exposed to tobacco and what their perceptions are of the substance.
• Factsheet Directory: This directory of factsheets by the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance includes links to facts on the toll of the tobacco and tobacco prevention.
• Tobacco Labels: This factsheet offers stats on the history of deaths due to tobacco and surveys the warnings on tobacco labels.
• Difficulties of Quitting: This Massachusetts factsheet looks at the difficulties of quitting, suggesting that as much as 61 percent of Massachusetts smokers tried to quit and could not. 
• Black Market Tobacco: This factsheet explores bootleg tobacco and how tobacco is smuggled to avoid taxation.
• Flavored Tobacco: This FDA factsheet looks at the lure of flavored tobacco, which is especially tempting or youth. 

Tobacco Health Facts

• Tobacco and Cancer: This factsheet from the National Cancer Institute identifies 28 carcinogens in tobacco and offers other startling facts. 
• Impact of oral health: This fact sheet explores the dangers tobacco poses to gums, teeth, throat, and mouth linings. 
• Heart Disease: This factsheet by the American Dental Hygienists’ Association discusses tobacco’s link to heart disease and hypertension.
• Pregnancy Risks: The March of Dimes uses its factsheet to warn of the impact of tobacco use on fetuses. The factsheet estimates that 11 percent of children born to female tobacco users are stillborn.
• Second-hand Effects: This fact list from the Surgeon General suggests that even second-hand smoke from tobacco-based cigarettes contains dozens of carcinogenic chemicals.
• Blindness: This New York Department of Health factsheet gives data on the link between tobacco use and loss of sight.
• Toll on Women: In this factsheet, the National Organization for Women looks at how tobacco endangers one in four women as well as their infants.
• Preventing Death & Disease: This factsheet by the U.S. Health & Human Services Department looks at the wide range of diseases that afflict tobacco users and suggests the possibility of avoiding these diseases and possible death.
• Unhealthy Pesticides: This factsheet identifies the pesticides that are heavily sprayed on tobacco, causing health dangers not only for users but for people living near tobacco crops.
• Clueless Smokers: This Indiana University factsheet suggests that between 25 percent and 66 percent of smokers are not fully aware of the adverse health effects of smoking.

Tobacco Use Facts and Fact Sheets

• Tobacco Use among Teens: Site identifies prevalence of tobacco use among youth, ages 12 to 17.
• Impact of Movies: This factsheet suggests that children exposed to tobacco advertising during TV shows and movies face a higher risk of becoming users. 
• Kids & Tobacco: This list contains links to fact sheets concerning children and tobacco, including links to the studies on tobacco marketing which targets children. Site offers the option of researching facts by state.
• Use Trends: This factsheet by Healthy Maine Partnerships looks at use among middle school students and high school students.
• Signs of Use for Parents: This factsheet is geared toward helping parents recognize if their children fall into a population that is at risk of using tobacco.
• 2009 Use Among all ages: This Washington State factsheet looks at the prevalence of tobacco use among all age groups in 2009. It suggests that students, particularly boys, begin using tobacco in sixth grade
• Daily Use: This factsheet suggests that as many as 4,000 children from ages 12 to 17 use tobacco every day.
• Underage Use: This Florida survey/ factsheet tracks the underage use of tobacco.