Every day 28 Missourians die due to tobacco use, which means 10,300 people die each year from smoking.

From 1988 to 1998, smoking was responsible for 115,458 deaths in Missouri. Of these deaths, 41% were due to heart disease, 35% to different cancers, 23% to respiratory conditions and under 1% to perinatal deaths and death from burns.

Smoking was responsible for 70 percent of all cancer deaths and nearly 19 percent of cardiovascular disease deaths in Missouri in 1995.

Smokers have a 50 percent greater chance of contracting a deadly form of adult leukemia.

According to a study, smokers have a 70 percent greater risk of suffering from hearing loss than nonsmokers.
 

• Smoking increases the chance of developing cataracts and other eye diseases.

• Smokers who develop skin cancer are more likely to die of their disease than nonsmokers.

• Smoking increases the risk of duodenal ulcers, Crohn's Disease and colon polyps.

• Smoking increases the chance of developing colorectal, bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancers.

• Smoking impairs sperm motility and normal development, increasing chances of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects.

Cigarette smoking is a major cause of heart disease among both men and women. Smokers have twice the risk of heart attacks than nonsmokers.

People who smoke more than a pack of cigarettes per day are nearly twice as likely as nonsmokers to develop diabetes.