2. Worldwide, tobacco products kill about 4.9 million people a year.
3. About 1 out of every 5 deaths in the US can be attributed to tobacco products.
4. In 1990, a tobacco company put together a plan to stop coroners from listing tobacco as a cause of death on death certificates.
5. In 2001, tobacco companies spent about $11 billion marketing their products. That's about $1.5 billion more than the year before.
6. Think "light," "ultra-light," or "low tar" cigarettes are safer than regular ones? It's not necessarily the case. "Light cigarettes have tiny holes in the paper around the filter tip. When they test those cigarettes with machines, air comes through the holes, mixes with the smoke and dilutes it. The result: lower readings of tar and nicotine.
The problem: Tobacco companies put those holes in places that real people tend to cover with their fingers and lips when they smoke (the poor testing machines don't have lips or fingers). Holes that are lightly covered are pretty much useless when it comes to reducing tar and nicotine, so in some cases, "Light" "Ultra-Light" or "Low Tar" cigarettes can be just as dangerous as regular ones.
7. "If we admit that smoking is harmful to 'heavy smokers'...might it not be argued that we have been 'willfully' killing our customers...." 1990 quote from a tobacco company lawyer
8. Unlike food and drug companies, tobacco companies are not required to include a list of ingredients in their packaging.
9. Secondhand cigarette smoke kills about 53,000 Americans a year.
10. Cigarette smoke contains the radioactive isotope Polonium-210.
11. Smoking related illnesses costs the nation an estimated $150 billion each year.
12. Tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, drugs, homocides, fires, and auto accidents combined.
13. In 1990, 72 million bottles of a popular mineral water were voluntarily recalled because of small traces of benzene. The smoke from one pack of unfiltered cigarettes has as much benzene as 169 bottles of the contaminated water.
14. Cigarettes will eventually kill a third of the people who use them.
15. In 1989, millions of cases of imported fruit were banned after a small amount of cyanide was found in just two grapes. There's thirty-three times more cyanide in a single cigarette than was found in those two grapes.