Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in North Dakota and each year 890 North Dakotans die prematurely due to smoking related diseases. Tobacco use comes with a hefty price tag that costs North Dakota families over $247 million each year in healthcare and imposes a tax burden of $564 for each household.
Tobacco use causes some of the most feared and costly diseases, including cancer, heart disease and emphysema. It harms reproductive health and damages nearly every organ in the human body.
Smoking causes:
9 out of 10 deaths from lung cancer
3 out of 10 deaths from all cancers
9 out of 10 deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema
1 out of 5 deaths from heart disease
Most smokers begin as children, and 1,000 kids become regular smokers every day. One in three of them will die an early death as a result. If current trends continue, more than six million U.S. kids alive today will die prematurely of tobacco-caused diseases.
Tobacco companies spend nearly $25 to market tobacco products for every $1 the states spend to fight tobacco use. According to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission, tobacco companies spend $12.8 billion a year on marketing – more than $35 million each day - and the tobacco industry spends millions more on lobbying and political contributions aimed at defeating tobacco control measures.
The United States today is at a crossroads in the fight against tobacco. The tobacco industry's insidious and even illegal practices are directly responsible for this terrible toll.
If elected officials at all levels step up efforts to implement proven tobacco control strategies, the nation can accelerate its progress and win an historic public health victory. If they fail to do so, the nation's gains could stop and even reverse, at great cost in health, lives and health care dollars.
A Winnable Battle We know how to win the fight against tobacco. Science and experience have identified proven, cost-effective strategies that prevent kids from using tobacco, help tobacco users quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke. These strategies include:
What can I do? Join more than 14,539 BreatheND coalition members today! You can be a champion for change. Get Informed.
Take Action. We’ll show you how. Let’s all breathe free in North Dakota.
Breathe ND is the official website of the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy. The Center, created by a statewide initiated measure 3 that voters passed in 2008, is funded by tobacco settlement dollars and is a comprehensive tobacco use prevention and control program.
Breathe ND networks with coalitions of organizations and individuals concerned with the effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke on our health and our lives. We’re working to educate North Dakotans on the dangers of tobacco use and secondhand smoke, and to tell you what you can do to ensure clean, healthy air for all our residents.
North Dakota Tobacco Prevention and Control Executive Committee
Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy
4023 State Street, Suite 65 • Bismarck, ND 58503-0638
Phone 701.328.5130 • Fax 701.328.5135 • Toll Free 1.877.277.5090
