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The article below has been taken from our most popular posters and leaflets.

Deadly mix

Cigarettes are made from tobacco leaves grown with pesticides and fertilizers. The leaves are dried in wood burning ovens using millions of hectares of forest. Then tobacco is treated with additives. Tobacco smoke contains 1000s of chemicals. Hundreds are poisonous and many cause cancer. Let's focus on the biggies.
Nicotine is an addictive drug that affects the brain and the heart. It's a tricky drug. It makes you feel both tense and calm. Then there's tar. Burning tobacco creates tar - similar to what's on roads. Sticky tar coats and damages the lungs making it hard to breathe. Tar causes throat and lung cancer. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that robs the body of oxygen. It will ruin an athlete's career and can harm a baby in the womb. It makes blood thick and sticky and more likely to clot.
There's ammonia, cyanide, arsenic, benzene and DDT.
Tobacco companies add tasty flavours to mask the nasty flavour of tobacco toxins.
But once you're addicted you'll keep buying more. That means more money in tobacco industry's pockets. Most smokers start before the age of 18 and keep on smoking so tobacco companies target their marketing to get to you!

Killer statistics

Last year, over 5 million people died worldwide as a result of tobacco. That many coffins would stretch, end-to-end from London to Bangkok, Thailand.
If you and your friends start smoking and continue to smoke then half will die from smoking. Many will die 15 - 20 years before their time. Stop what you are doing. Look at your watch or the second hand of a clock. Watch 7 seconds go by. In that time someone, somewhere in the world just died because they smoked.

I don't smoke because …

"It's a total waste of money. I'd rather spend my cash on other things."
"I like to look good and feel good. Smoking does the opposite."
"My boyfriend would go off me if I smoked, he hates it."
"My uncle died of lung cancer because of cigarettes. My cousins have no dad."
"I love playing sport. Smoking and sport don't mix."
"I care about the environment. Cigarettes litter the streets and smoke pollutes the air."
"Hardly anyone I know smokes - it just isn't cool anymore."
"I don't want to give my money to tobacco industry fat cats. They're legalised drug pushers as far as I'm concerned."
"I've been put off seeing mum and dad smoke like chimneys. I don't want to go there!"
"I don't want bad breath."
"Just the smell of smoke makes me wheezy. I'm asthmatic."
"Smokers stink."
"Me smoking? You must be joking!"

Dog Breath Dan and Fag Ash Lil

Smoking destroys your appearance. Smokers have dull complexions, age early and by the age of 40 have wrinkles of someone 20 years older, who doesn't smoke. That's because smokers have to manage on less oxygen. The body needs oxygen to keep the skin healthy and to make new cells to replace the old ones.
Smoking causes bleeding gums and loss of teeth. Have you seen smokers' hairy tongue? Tar builds up and stops the natural replacement of the tongue surface and you get a hairy effect. This traps food and causes bad breath. Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.
With bad breath, yellow fingers, bleeding gums, smelly hair and clothes, smokers really stand out in a crowd. Not a pretty sight or smell. And because smoking damages the sense of smell and taste, smokers don't realise how much they stink.

Cash or ash - you decide

Smoking makes you short of breath, cuts your life short and makes you short of money.
The price of a pack of cigarettes is bad enough but the trouble is one is never enough. Nicotine is addictive and smokers keep on buying more and more. It's like setting light to your money and watching it burn away.
Instead of smoking you could go out for a pizza and see a band, a film, go out clubbing or visit a games arcade. You could top up your mobile or buy a new top. Choose a new computer game, CD, DVD, make-up, sports gear or a gift for you or a mate.
Or save it up for holidays, festivals, designer clothes, or a car, computer or … whatever.

Stopping smoking doesn't have to be a drag. So if you are a smoker here are ten tips to help you quit.

1. Decide your reasons for quitting - smell fresher, feel fitter, live longer, stop that cough, have more dosh, stop people getting at you … whatever.
2. Get support. Tell your friends, your family your best mates and warn them you might be moody. Ask them to stand by your decision to quit. Find a friend to quit with can help. Call a smokers helpline. Go see a nurse or your GP. They might give you some patches or gum.
3. Make a date to quit. List your smoking times and situations. What you could instead? Get ready to cope without cigarettes. Practise 'No thanks I don't smoke'.
4. Get rid of the smoking gear and get your head in gear. Your quit day is ahead.
5. Quit day. Wake up and say 'I don't smoke'. Read your list of reasons for quitting. Put on fresh clothes. Break your routines, do things differently.
6. Drink lots of water to flush out the system. Keep sipping. Eat healthy snacks - fruit, raw vegetables or chew sugar free gum.
7. Make like a mad thing on the dance floor, in the gym, in water or on wheels. Run up the stairs. Exercise is a better buzz. The more you move about and work out the less you'll feel like smoking. Then relax and chill out.
8. Treat yourself. You have more money to spend. Buy yourself a present and dream of what you'll buy with the money you save.
9. Beware of trying times. If you get headaches, a sore throat, cough or feeling down you know you're winning. That's the body getting rid of the rubbish inside you and starting to recover. Avoid temptation. Don't even think 'I'll just have one'. Just one is one too many. Non-smokers don't smoke.
10. Be positive. Stopping smoking is the start of a bright new future. But take it just one day at a time. Today you choose not to smoke.

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