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Smoking affects entire body
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking causes a range of diseases never before suspected, including cataracts, acute myeloid leukemia and cervical, kidney, pancreatic and stomach cancers, U.S. Surgeon-General Richard Carmona said on Thursday.
In fact, smoking affects virtually every organ of the body, Carmona said in the newest surgeon-general's report on smoking.
"We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health, but this report shows that it's even worse," Dr. Carmona told a news conference.
"The toxins from cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows. I'm hoping this new information will help motivate people to quit smoking and convince young people not to start in the first place."
The report coincides with a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) showing that in 2002, 22.5 percent of U.S. adults described themselves as smokers, down slightly from 2001.
This rate of decline will not be enough to get the national smoking rate down to 12 percent, the goal set by the U.S. Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Department for 2010, the CDC said.
Smoking kills an estimated 440,000 Americans a year, Carmona said. He said men who smoke cut their lives short by 13.2 years on average, and female smokers lose 14.5 years.
Smoking costs the country $157 billion each year -- $75 billion in direct medical costs and the rest in lost productivity.
The poor and less educated continue to be the biggest smokers, and more efforts need to be directed at these groups to encourage them to quit smoking, the CDC said.
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