Tobacco is for fools

People who started smoking/chewing tobacco before we learned how bad it was for us are addicted, and I feel for them. People who started since then are idiots. Period.

This is a habit that does nothing positive for the person indulging in it. It's expensive, it looks ugly, and it makes you, your clothes, your hair, your home, your car all stink. This is before we get to the health aspects.

90% of all lung cancer occurs in smokers. Yes, some nonsmokers get it, frequently from secondhand smoke. Yes, some people live to be 90 while smoking daily. Trouble is, you don't know which you'll be: one of the lucky ones or die young from a useless habit.

Lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer.

1/3 of all cancer deaths worldwide are from tobacco. There are 4 million tobacco-caused deaths per year worldwide.

Besides lung cancer, this stupid habit causes: bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, laryngeal cancer, oral cancer, esophageal cancer.

Besides cancer, it can give you heart disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and emphysema.

Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to miscarry, more likely to have an undersized baby that grows slowly and is prone to dying before its first birthday, and have assorted lung problems such as asthma and emphysema. If you smoke while you're pregnant, your baby is smoking too. Thanks, mom.

Parents who smoke at home have children who smoke, from birth, even if that child never picks up a cigarette. Secondhand smoke is just as toxic as if your child was puffing away. By smoking around your children, you're giving them all the assorted health risks above. Have you poisoned your children today?

So: to all those young smokers out there: You don't look like a rebel, or a risk-taker. You don't look hot or cool, sexy or dangerous. YOU LOOK STUPID.