More than 10 years ago, U.S. tobacco companies were ordered to run ads about the bad effects of tobacco products. On Nov. 26, 2017, the court-ordered ads began.

Tobacco smoke can cause a lot of damage to your health, even if you aren’t the one smoking. In 2006, a court found several major tobacco companies guilty of misleading the public about the dangers of tobacco products. The companies are finally running ads in major newspapers and on TV stations. These ads have to include specific statements. Some of them are:

• Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day.
• More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.
• Smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, acute myeloid leukemia, and cancer of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, lung, stomach, kidney, bladder, and pancreas.
• Smoking also causes reduced fertility, low birth weight in newborns, and cancer of the cervix.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, severe asthma, and reduced lung function.
  
  

Why Is This Important to People With Asthma?

Tobacco smoke is a common asthma trigger. Triggers can cause your airways to be inflamed. Avoiding tobacco smoke is an important part of preventing asthma. Secondhand smoke also affects children more than adults. It affects how their lungs develop. It also increases asthma episodes and infections. We can together to deliver the first tobacco-free generation.

When we all better understand the harmful effects of tobacco, we reduce its use. We can also work on ways to reduce our exposure to this trigger. These ads help get the truth out about how bad tobacco can be.

Less tobacco use can lower asthma rates. Children will be healthier and miss fewer school days. Many may not develop asthma at all. With this knowledge, we can work together to take another step toward reducing asthma rates and saving lives.