U.S. Report Details Harm of Even Light Smoking

Cigarette smoke causes immediate damage to a person’s lungs and DNA even in small amounts, including from secondhand smoke, federal officials said Thursday in a new report.

Surgeon General Regina Benjamin urged taxes, bans and treatment to reduce smoking.

Taxes, bans and treatment must all be pursued to bring smoking rates down, said the surgeon general, Dr. Regina M. Benjamin. “The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale, causing damage immediately,” she said in a statement.

“Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer,” Dr. Benjamin said.

The report said that tobacco companies deliberately designed cigarettes and other tobacco products to be addictive and that they released new products portrayed as safer that were in fact just as dangerous and addictive.

A third of people who ever try cigarettes become daily smokers, Dr. Benjamin said.

The report notes that studies have shown that cigarettes kill 443,000 people every year in the United States — one in every five people who die — from cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other causes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says efforts to reduce smoking have stalled in recent years. Between 1998 and 2008, the number of smokers fell by 3.5 percent, to 20.6 percent from 24.1 percent.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said cigarette use resulted in more than $193 billion annually in health care costs and loss of productivity.