World No Tobacco Day: 13 Facts About Smoking You Should Know

The #World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects which currently lead to nearly 6 million deaths each year worldwide, including 600,000 of which are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Below are some facts about smoking you should know.

• The word tobacco comes from a Caribbean language.
• Around a third of the world’s adult population are smokers.
• It has been calculated that every cigarette a person smokes reduces their expected life span by 11 minutes.
• 15 billion cigarettes are smoked worldwide every day.
• A single cigarette contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.
• More than a third of the world’s smokers are Chinese.
• Tobacco addicts are most likely to consider quitting the habit on Mondays.
• Study has found that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.
• Smoking makes your hair turn gray faster according to a study.
• Cigar and pipe smoking is every bit as dangerous as cigarette smoking and possibly even more dangerous.
• Smoking makes breasts sag faster than normal by breaking down a protein in the skin called elastin, which gives youthful skin its elastic appearance and supports the breast.
• Within 48 hours of quitting smoking, your nerve endings begin to regrow and your senses of taste and smell begin to return to normal.
• Late Rapper, Tupac’s ashes were mixed with weed and smoked by the members of his hip pop band.