Introduction
Smoking is awful. We all know this. But how bad is it really? Soon enough you are going to find out some truly horrible facts about smoking and the effect it has on our world. It would have been a sin for us to keep these to ourselves. These types of statistics are the EXACT reason why thousands have people have chosen to use vaping as a quit-smoking method so they can finally kick tobacco out of their lives for good. If you’re a smoker yourself, your smoking cessation starts here.
So, let's dive right in.
1. If the current trends continue, tobacco will claim 1 billion lives worldwide in the 21st century.
Yup, we’re starting off with a bang. When you look at it this way, Tabacco and cigarettes are a literal life-taking industry. With no regulations on how much people can smoke and how many packs they can buy, people see this as an open opportunity to self-inflict a slow death on themselves. It may sound extreme but it's the reality. 1 Billion lives for crying out loud! Not a million but BILLION.
2. Every 6 seconds a person dies from a tobacco-related disease.
Picture this…
You put the kettle on. You walk to the cupboard to grab a mug. You bring the mug back to the kettle. Boom, someone has died from Tobacco poisoning. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, you fill up your vape with Riot Salt: Pink Grenade liquid to the brim and screw the cap back on. Boom, someone has died again. By the time you have made your cuppa and picked a film to watch 5 minutes later, 50 people have died from tobacco-related illnesses!
Not exactly something you want to be thinking about when preparing a hot cuppa but it's just for some healthy perspective. I know these have been unpleasant to hear but we’re only at number 2 so I hope you’re still with us.
3. It is estimated that over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts end up filling our landfills every single year – give or take a trillion.
If the health detriments of smoking weren't bad enough to help you stop, then the pollution and environmental damage that the butts cause may do. It is estimated that over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts end up filling our landfills every year - give a take a trillion or two.
Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic material that contains hundreds of toxic chemicals. When smoked and dropped on the floor by the millions of smokers that walk this earth, these chemicals travel wherever they may please. Not only that but because of the stubborn plastic material they are made of, it can take up to 10 YEARS to fully degrade.
This wouldn't even be the majority of those stubborn little things. Most of them end up in soil and water…and pretty much everywhere else around us. So next time you think about dropping those little buggers on your lawn or front porch, think about what they might do.
4. Around £21 Million is spent every single day on tobacco advertising.
While most forms of tobacco advertising and promotion in the UK are banned, the tobacco industry has continued to promote its products through packaging and what you might call “below the line” marketing.
Even with all the restrictions on public advertising they have, they still end up spending the £21 Million that they do every day! That’s close to $6 billion per year and it’s only growing. Tobacco companies can advertise near schools – they’ve won that particular right in a courtroom (somehow!).
To put the cherry on top, some tobacco companies still sell their products in pink and teal packages. Why? Because young teenagers and adults are drawn to those, bright and attractive colours. Make them look pretty and they might not believe that these things are slowly killing them.
Marketing eh?
5. Only 6.2% of smokers manage to kick the habit every year - with Riot’s 4 simple steps to quitting smoking!
Now time for something practical to take away from all this…
For long-term smokers, the act of smoking has become more of a habitual pattern rather than the actual need for a cigarette. The repeated action over the years of pulling out a cigarette in certain situations has become their new normal.
When they have a cup of coffee in the morning - a cigarette follows. When they grab their first pint in the rare sunshine of the UK - a cigarette follows When you get agitated or stressed over a situation at work, guess what? A cigarette follows. Riot has already helped hundreds of people quit smoking through vaping and our 4 steps to quitting smoking.
Conclusion
From the beginning of the 19th century when cigarettes were born, up until the magical year of 2022, these life takers are still as popular as they were then. Even with all the horrifying stats such as the ones we have told you today which are, (by the way) only scratching the surface, it is still somehow considered normal to smoke.
We bring you these statistics only to educate you on the extreme harm these cause. We are not telling you what to do and how to live your life but only providing the necessary information to help you make the right decisions.
