Smoking is a major lead to cancer and is also the leading preventable cause of death. In the financial year of 2004-05, nearly 15,000 Australians died because of smoking-related issues. This means that about 40 preventable deaths occurred each day. About half of these deaths are caused by cancer. Second-hand smoking is not realised as a major problem too, even though every second or third day, a second-hand smoker dies. Sadly enough, a person under 15 years old dies every week due to a tobacco-related cause.
IS THIS FAIR?
The main tobacco-related diseases are cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Unfortunately, about one-fifth of the Australian 18+ population are smokers. Smoking kills more Australians every year than road accidents, alcohol and other drugs combined. There are immediate health benefits including:
1) Quitting before the age of 50 reduces the risk of lung cancer by 90%
2) After 15 years of being a non-smoker, the risk of stroke is the same as someone who has never smoked before
3) Within 2-5 years of quitting, the levels of having a heart attack or stroke will have dropped tremendously
It is proposed that the government should further enforce campaigns to quit smoking