WHY  SMOKE?

Look what happens

Smoking causes -

• a sharp increase in blood pressure.
• an increase in heart rate.
• replacement of oxygen with carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
• rise in metabolism rate accounting for skin aging and wrinkles.
• the deposit of cancer-causing chemicals throughout the body, especially the lungs.
• emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and pneumonia
• impotence among middle-aged men.
• a death on the average of one every 80 seconds.
• miscarriages, still births, premature births, and lower birth weights.
• Buerger's disease, which limits circulation to the extremities.

The U. S. Surgeon General has stated that nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine.  Cigarette smoking remains the major cause of illness, disability, and premature death in the United States.

The pack-a-day lifetime smoker is worth $20,000 to the tobacco industry. In 1992, the tobacco industry spent $5.2 billion in promotion and advertising.  The ads suggest that you need to smoke their brands to be ``macho," glamorous, and successfully. Many ads still appeal to children whom the industry wants to hook.

Look what happens

WHEN A SMOKER QUITS:

• reduction of the risk of developing lung cancer and emphysema.
• improvement in the senses of taste and smell.
• decrease of shortness of breath and persistent cough.
• disappearance of stains on teeth and fingers.
• increase in available money.
• development of a responsible attitude in not exposing others to harmful chemicals in smoke.

TIME is running out for the smoker.

Join the elite crowd of 40 million who have quit.

BETTER YET . . . DON'T START.