Quit Smoking and Run For Your Life!

This draws global attention to the tobacco epidemic and to the preventable death and disease it causes. Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of premature death, disease, and disability throughout the world [1]. Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco consumption. Alarming statistics have recently emerged. An estimated 1.2 billion people worldwide are smokers. In developing countries, half of all males smoke. The WHO projects a global smoking population of 1.6 billion by the year 2030 [2]. An estimated 5 million deaths annually can be attributed to tobacco use. By 2030, estimates based on current trends indicate that this number will increase to 10 million, with 70% of deaths occurring in low-and middle-income countries. The artificial passion for smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century. Without significant public health interventions, this health hazard threatens to lure, seduce, and kill another one billion in this century [3]. The impact of public health awareness in combating this disease is evident from the fact that tobacco-attributable deaths are projected to decline by 9% between 2002 and 2030 in upper-income countries, yet they are expected to double from 3.4 million to 6.8 million in lower-and middle-income countries [4]. It has also been reported that from 1970 to 2000, tobacco leaf production decreased by 36 % in developed nations, but more than doubled in developing countries [5]. The negative health effects of pipe, cigar, and water pipe smoking (WPS) as well as other forms of tobacco use such as chewing tobacco and moist snuff deposited between cheek and gum are on par or above that of cigarette smoking [6]. A recent study of high school students in the United States revealed that both Arab American youths and non-Arab youths are experimenting and using WPS regularly, which underscore the importance of assessing non-traditional forms of tobacco use [7]. Nicotine, carcinogenic compounds, other toxic components, chemical additives, and carbon monoxide all form a deadly " aerosol cocktail " in cigarette smoke which contribute to its lethal effects. Medical research has proved that tobacco smoking causes coronary heart disease, respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, emphysema, and cancer (in particular lung cancer and cancers of the larynx and tongue) [6]. It has been reported that 20 to 30% of coronary artery disease and approximately 10% of occlusive cerebrovascular disease are caused by cigarette smoking. In the non-diabetic …