· In the next 24 hours, 1,180 Americans will die from tobacco use. In all, 430,700 smokers die from tobacco related disease each year. They are replaced in part by the 3,000 children who start smoking regularly everyday. · Each day, 3,000 teens smoke their first cigarette. That's more than one million annually. Approximately one-third of these children smokers will eventually die of smoking-related illnesses. · At least 4 million adolescents are current smokers. · Smoking is a pediatric disease. The average teenage smoker starts …showed first 75 words of 1562 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1562 total…remains much room to raise tobacco taxes Because tobacco taxes are not indexed to keep up with inflation, federal and state tobacco taxes fell from 50% of the retail price of cigarettes in 1964, to just over 30% in 1995. Low tobacco taxes have resulted in a financial bonanza for the tobacco industry, which has taken advantage of declining tax rates to boost profits on cigarettes. Total industry profits have skyrocketed from $2.7 billion in 1981 to $6.7 billion in 1984. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**