Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke ... Smoking caused over five million deaths a year from 1990 to 2015. Smoking is one of the most...

In the 20th century,smokingcame to be viewed in a decidedly negative light, especially in Western countries. This is due tosmokingtobacco being among the leading causes of many diseases such as lung cancer, heart attack, COPD, erectile dysfunction, and birth defects.

Smoking and Respiratory Disease Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.1,2. Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.1,2. Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.

key facts. Tobacco kills up to half of its users. Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.