Teen Tobacco Use in Washington State

• High school students who smoke: 28% [Parallel national rate is 34%]
• Kids (under 18) who become new daily smokers each year: 24,000
• High school males who use smokeless tobacco: 15.7%[Parallel national rate is 15.7%]
• Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids in Washington each year: 17.8%
• Kids exposed to second hand smoke at home: 244,000
• Washington kids alive today who will die from smoking: 107,000 (if current trends continue)

Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

• Annual tobacco industry marketing expenditures nationwide: $8.4 billion ($23 million per day)
• Estimated portion spent in Washington each year: $173 million

Studies have found that kids are three times more sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults and are more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure. One-third of underage experimentation with smoking is attributable to tobacco company marketing.

Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

• There are more than 4,000 chemicals found in cigaretes (250 are toxic poisons, 50 cause cancer)
• Chemicals found in tobacco: Ammonia (found in toilet bowl cleaner); Aresenic (ingredient in rat poison); Polonium 210 (nuclear waste); Carbon Monoxide (car exhaust); Acetone (used in finger nail polish remover)
• Nicotine remains in the body for 8 - 12 hours after a single use of tobacco.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ClDC)

• Smoking-related deaths each year: 400,000 (resulting in more than $50 billion in direct medical costs)
• Smoking kills more than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides, and fires — combined!
• Nationally, smoking results in more than 5 million years of potential life lost each year.
• Approximately 80% of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18.
• Someone who smokes 2 packs a day could save $2,500 a year by quitting.
• Each cigarette reduces a smoker's life by 7 minutes.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ClDC)

For a wealth of tobacco-related facts, see the Child Trends Data Bank

Do you have a fast fact that you think we should add? If so, send it along with the source

[Back to Top]