Tobacco facts

• Tobacco smoking kills around 4,700 New Zealanders every year.
• Globally, each year tobacco causes about four million premature deaths.
• By the year 2030, tobacco is likely to be the world’s leading cause of death and disability, killing more than 10 million people annually and claiming more lives than HIV, tuberculosis, motor vehicle accidents, suicide and homicide combined.
• Smoking causes one in four of all cancer deaths in New Zealand.
• Tobacco is the only consumer product that kills people when used as the manufacturer intended.
• Half of all continuing smokers will die from smoking – an average of 14 years early.
• When you smoke you inhale more than 4000 chemicals including acetone, ammonia, cyanide, DDT and carbon monoxide.