Smoking and Children

Every day, almost 5,000 children and teens try smoking for the first time. Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. The nicotine and the other poisonous chemicals in tobacco cause heart problems and cancer. Some of these illnesses take years to develop, but others can show up right away; smokers are much more likely to get infections such as colds and pneumonia.

The problem is particularly serious in adolescence, since teenagers can become addicted to cigarettes in as little as a few weeks by taking just a few draws on a cigarette every other day, according to research from the University of Massachusetts. Research also shows that smoking is particularly dangerous for teens because their bodies are still developing and the 4,000 chemicals (including 200 known poisons) in cigarette smoke can adversely affect this process.

Most people start using tobacco before they finish high school. This means that if a teen stays smoke-free in school, he or she will probably never smoke.