Smoking causes cancers in parts of the body (including the kidney, cervix, and bone marrow) that have not been previously linked to to smoking in this series of reports.
Smoking diminishes health generally. Adverse health effects begin before birth and continue across the life span. Smoking also causes cataracts and contributes to the development of osteoporosis, thus increasing the risk for fracture in the elderly.
During 1995-1999, smoking caused approximately 440,000 premature deaths in the United States annually, leading to 13.2 years of potential life lost for male smokers, and 14.5 years lost for female smokers.
Changes in cigarettes that reduce machine yields of tar and nicotine have not had any clear benefits for public health.
Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general.
Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by smoking and improving health in general.
Smoking cigarettes with lower machine-measured yields of tar and nicotine provides no clear benefit to health.
The list of diseases caused by smoking has been expanded to include abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis, and stomach cancer. These are in addition to diseases previously known to be caused by smoking, including bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, and throat cancers, chronic lung diseases, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, as well as reproductive effects and sudden infant death syndrome
