By Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
Smoking tobacco products causes at least five additional diseases than previously thought, and is responsible for the deaths of an additional 60,000 people above the approximately 500,000 Americans who die each year from smoking, according to a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers found that smoking, which had been previously linked to cardiac arrest, lung cancer, stroke, pneumonia, tuberculosis and approximately 16 other life-threatening conditions, was also a major health detriment for those who suffered from kidney disease, certain heart and lung ailments and intestinal diseases caused by improper blood flow. Another major danger of smoking is that it weakens the immune system and lessens the body’s ability to fight diseases.
The ten-year study tracked one million adults and was financed by the American Cancer Society. It included scientists from the American Cancer Institute. The researchers concluded that the impact of smoking on public health was heavily understated.
Beginning in 2000, they compared the deaths of smokers to non-smokers. They found that people who smoked died at twice the rate of non-smokers from respiratory ailments, certain infections, kidney disease and heart failure caused by hypertension.
Fifteen percent of all American women and 21 percent of American men are smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Those who do not smoke outlive smokers by about ten years, according to health officials. The majority of those who smoke have limited education and live close to or below the poverty line, CDC health experts said.
Smoking is responsible for more deaths in our nation than the total number of people who are killed by automobile accidents, homicides, HIV/AIDS, and alcohol-related illnesses combined, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, an anti-smoking advocacy group. There are 28,000 smoking related deaths in Texas each year, the group said.
Our society must address the increased dangers and societal problems caused by smoking. Texans under the age of 18 purchase 43 million packs of cigarettes each year, according to data from anti-smoking advocates in Texas. Fourteen percent of all high school students in Texas are smokers, they said.
Even non-smokers are harmed by smoking. According to analysts, the annual healthcare cost, eventually paid by taxpayers, related to smoking in Texas is nearly $9 billion. Businesses in our state lose approximately $8 billion in worker productivity due to smoker-related illnesses each year, the analysts said.
Our country spends approximately $133 billion annually in direct medical care for adult smokers, health officials said. The costs of smoking to our healthcare system are draining. As your representative in Congress, I will continue to support laws and policies that deter smoking, and that promote healthier lifestyles for all Americans.
