In Calvert County, about 1 in 5 adults and teens use tobacco on a regular basis.
The four major conclusions of THE SURGEON GENERAL’S 2004 REPORT,
THE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING demonstrate clearly, why quitting smoking is the best and only choice a current smoker can make:
- 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.
ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT QUITTING?
The Calvert County Health Department offers a FREE comprehensive Smoking Cessation Program.
The eight week program uses a combination of behavioral counseling and a variety of cessation products. The cessation products are provided free of charge only to individuals who are REGISTERED, ATTEND and PARTICIPATE in the Program.
Tobacco Cessation Class Schedule
Contact : 410-535-5400 x359
Why are cigarettes so harmful?
There are approximately 4000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, many of them toxic. The ingredients in cigarettes affect everything from the internal functioning of organs to the efficiency of the body’s immune system. The effects of cigarette smoking are destructive and widespread.
- Toxic ingredients in cigarette smoke travel throughout the body, causing damage in several different ways.
- Nicotine reaches the brain within 7 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.
- Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing affected cells from carrying a full load of oxygen.
- Cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) in tobacco smoke damage important genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to reproduce too rapidly.
- The carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene binds to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers.
- Smoking affects the function of the immune system and may increase the risk for respiratory and other infections.