Intro: If you are a smoker you should pay close attention, but even if you are not a smoker perhaps this will prevent you from smoking or guide you in helping someone else quit smoking

Preview: Today I will share with you THE FACTS of smoking. First I will give you a little history, second I will tell you some tips on why you shouldn’t smoke, third I will give you quitting advice, and lastly I will share with you a few little interesting facts.

Transition: So you may be wondering how smoking was even introduced to us. Well let me tell you.

A. History

a. The tobacco industry was not really developed until the 19th and 20th centuries.

i. From Funk and Wagnalls, During WWII physicians endorsed sending soldiers cigarettes.

ii. In fact it wasn’t known until the 1950’s that tobacco use was even harmful.

b. And stated at library.thinkquest.org. Not until 1970 was it requited that every box of cigarettes have a surgeon generals warning on it.

Transition: the surgeon general puts out a warning on each box of cigarettes so that should be reason enough not to smoke, right? Well I guess some people need more.

B. Why we shouldn’t smoke

a. From library.thinkquest.org, there are over 3000 chemical substances in tobacco smoke which include

i. Nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, ammoniac, sulfur dioxide, methanol, and phenols to name a few.

ii. So if someone walked up to you and was like, HEY you want to inject some sulfur dioxide or ammoniac into your blood, would you do it? How many of you would do that? OK then, well that’s basically what you are doing when you smoke.

b. There are more than 400,000 deaths per year in the U.S. from smoking-related illnesses. www.winternet.com

c. From Deal with it, It is also a major cause of preventable death in Americans.

d. Smoking causes things like

i. Lung cancer, heart disease, stroke. Respiratory diseases, and the list goes on.

ii. At library.thinkquest.org, and average smokers risks of lung cancer is 10 times more than a non-smoker.

e. Second hand smoke is also very dangerous.

i. Pass out second had smoking sheet when finished.

ii. Also when parents smoke there kids are much more likely to become smokers.

f. Smoking is also extremely costly.

i. A pack a day smoker can expect to spend around $1000. per year.

Transition: seems like an easy decision to me. So many bad affects of smoking, QUIT

C. Quitting

a. The biggest step in quitting

i. YOU HAVE to be 100% sure you want to quit and you have to realize and accept that smoking is not a healthy habit.

b. There are different methods for quitting

i. At www.quitsmoking.net.org they recommend the 9 innings approach.

1. Explain

ii. Here are some quitting tips from www.quitnet.org

1. Refer to sheet

Transition: when you started smoking the cigarette manufactures and advertisers accomplished their goal.

D. Interesting facts- here are some quotes from cigarette manufactures, that just show how shady they really are.

a. “If you are really and truly not going to sell to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years” -Benett Lebow, CEO of Brook Group LTD (Lard and L&M cigarettes)

b. “The success of Newport has been fantastic during the last few years, the base of our business is high school students. –Lorrillard, INC (marketers of Newport)

c. Here are a few quotes from www.wholetruth.com

i. “The target audience for cigarette ads is 15-24”

ii. “The people who manufacture these cigarettes are making an average salary of 1-5 million per year.

d. Obvious these manufactures are just feeding of the American stupidity.

e. All you are doing when you smoke is playing into advertising. The people who market this probably sit back and laugh when they realize what “sheep” the American people are. You put something on TV or in ads, and make it look desirable and people run after it like crazed lunatics. All the manufactures want is their own personal profit. They don’t care if you die from lung cancer.

Summary and Review: By first sharing with you some history, then telling you why you shouldn’t smoke and some tips on quitting, and giving you some insight on how cigarettes are marketed I hope this can lead you to either quit smoking or make better choices in the future when it comes to smoking.

So if you be a smoker or a non-smoker. Just remember the simple fact that smoking kills

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