Since the year 1992, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from lung cancer, a terrible ailment which results from smoking. Of these numbers, about ninety percent is caused by cigarette smoking. There would be a significant decrease in the annual death rate if deaths cause by lung cancers were completely eliminated.

Despite the warnings of Surgeon General on the health risks of smoking cigarettes for more than 5 decades, millions of Americans have ignore this warning and have continued to light up. More and more, the association between smoking and cancer has continued to increase. It has been scientifically and medically proven that smoking does cause lung cancer. It also increases the chances of developing the cancers of the pharynx, bladder, pancreas, kidney, esophagus, oral cavity, larynx and even cervical cancer.

From this we can see that the risk of developing any of these diseases is related to the total lifetime exposed to cigarette smoke. This of course is measured by the number of cigarettes consumed each day and how long a person has been smoking and at what age they actually did start to smoke. The longer a person has been smoking, the more they stand to develop other smoke related diseases including; coronary hearts disease and chronic lung cancer.

To avoid getting none of these diseases, it is advisable that you quit smoking and the earlier you do that the better for you. It must be noted that the health risks associated with cigarette smoking are not limited to smokers alone but also to anyone who constantly inhales the smoke from cigarettes. For example, daily exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can increase non-smokers chances of developing lung cancer. In other words environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is the smoke non-smokers are exposed to when they share the same air space with smokers. In most cases, the non-smoker who is inhaling the polluted air is even at a higher risk than the one smoking and exhaling the smoke. It is for this reason that the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 released an assessment report on the risk of shared air space between smokers and non-smokers. The report showed clearly that shared air space between smokers and no smokers also complicated issues in young children with respiratory problems.

Despite all these complications, smokers still have a chance to be healthy if only they can quit smoking. The earlier a smoker quits the better his or her chances of avoiding these diseases. As soon as a person quits smoking, the risk of developing these diseases starts to reduce. The development of all smoke related cancers and other chronic diseases is also drastically reduced. Coronary hearts disease for one has been shown to decline rapidly within only a few years of quitting. Likewise pregnant women who quit smoking during the first trimester are known to reduce complications such as still birth and low birth weight. It makes sense therefore to heed sound advice and quit smoking to avoid getting cancer.