General Tobacco Information

Our Mission:

To increase awareness of the dangers of tobacco use.

Our Goals:

• Prevention - reduce the number of youth who begin using tobacco by empowering youth and adults in anti-tobacco advocacy and policy making through education and training
• Environment - eliminate second hand smoke exposure in the community
• Cessation - decrease the number of youth and adults who are using tobacco

Program Actions:

• Increase awareness of key tobacco issues
• Engagement in the Policy Process regarding tobacco issues
• Promote tobacco cessation
• Create, maintain and improve effective tobacco control organizations

Tobacco Facts

• Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
• An estimated 32,000 Floridians die each year from smoking related causes.
• More than 2.5 million Floridians, 14.7% of the adult population, are current cigarette smokers.
• Each day more than 4,100 young people between 12 and 17 years of age smoke their first cigarette and 850 become daily smokers.
• More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
• A smoker inhales only 15% of the smoke from a cigarette; the other 85% becomes second-hand smoke.
• Children exposed to second hand smoke have more asthma attacks, sinus & ear infections, allergies, bronchitis, pneumonia and croup.
• Smoking can decrease a person's life expectancy up to 10 years.
• Cigarette smoking during pregnancy can result in low birth weight babies.
• Smoking has been associated with infertility, miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, infant mortality and childhood morbidity.
• Additionally, cigarette smoking may cause long-term learning disabilities.
• Each day 88 Floridians die as a result of tobacco use.