Smoking is the largest single preventable cause of death and disease in Australia.

There are around

19,000 tobacco caused deaths each year. That's 52 a day 1.
Every month Australian tobacco companies lose at least 12,000 customers. About 12,500 quit and
1,600 die of diseases caused by smoking.

Latest data (2001) from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows 21.1% of Australians
over 14 are smoking at least weekly. 80% of them have tried to quit at least once. Within the last
twelve months 30.8% of smokers have tried to stop.

A twenty-a-day smoker, aged 30, who started smoking at around 16 has already breathed a kilo of
tar into their lungs.

Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which are highly toxic and over 40 of which
are known to cause cancer. There is no safe 'low tar' cigarette and no safe level of smoking.

A smoker is 10 times more likely to develop lung cancer. Heavy smokers are 15 to 25 times more at
risk than non-smokers4. 85% of all male cases and 77% of female cases of lung cancer are related to
smoking5.

Smoking reduces life expectancy by 7 - 8 years. That means, each cigarette shortens the life of the
smoker by around 8 minutes.