Introduction
As you know, tobacco use takes an enormous, deadly toll each year. Tobacco products are responsible for more than 400,000 deaths annually due to cancer, respiratory illness, heart disease, and other health problems.
Smoking
Cigarettes kill more Americans each year than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. Smokers who die as a result of smoking would have lived, on average, 12 to 15 years longer if they had not smoked. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that in 1993 the health care costs associated with smoking totaled $50 billion: $26.9 billion for hospital costs; $15.5 billion for doctors; $4.9 billion in nursing home costs; $1.8 billion for prescription drugs and $900 million for home-health care expenditures.
Smokeless Tobacco
According to the Current Population Survey from 1992-1993, 3.2 percent of Texans aged 18 and older use spit tobacco compared to 2.1 percent across the United States. However, the 1993 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that 10.4 percent of youth grades 9-12 used spit tobacco in the last month (19 percent of males and 1.6 percent of females). This number compares to 11.5 percent of youth grades 9-12 across the United States. Health problems caused by the use of spit tobacco include: cavities, leukoplakia, gum recession, elevated blood pressure, stained teeth, oral cancer and addiction.
How to Use This Catalog
It is our hope that you will find this catalog useful as you seek to educate your patients, your community, your students, your co-workers, or yourself about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use. The appropriate audience(s) for the material is indicated with each resource listing.
Each resource listing includes the name of the organization responsible for distribution. At the end of the catalog, you will find information on how to contact the appropriate organization directly to order materials. Also included is a listing of Texas tobacco-related coalitions so that you can network with others in your community.
We applaud your efforts to reduce the toll that tobacco takes in the lives of many Texans.
Call (512) 928-2262for more information on membership in the Tobacco-Free Network of Texas.
Table of Contents
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