STATISTICS ON SMOKING

From: Australian Council on Smoking and Health 334 Rokeby Rd., Subiaco, 6008.

Each year more than 18,000 Australians die prematurely because of smoking - that's 50 a day.

Smoking kills more people in Australia than the total number killed by drink, drugs, murder, suicide, road crashes, rail crashes, air crashes, poisoning, drowning, fires, falls, lightning, electrocution, snakes, spiders and sharks.

Of 1,000 young Australian males who smoke, 1 will be murdered, 15 will be killed on the road and 250 will be killed before their time by tobacco.

In Australia in 1986, the following body organs were removed from humans because of cancer caused by smoking:

521 lungs

148 gullets

71 tongues

221 voice boxes

82 stomachs

40 pancreases

68 wombs

85 bladders 115 kidneys and 161 miscellaneous body parts.

Tobacco is an addictive substance. Smokers who use other drugs such as heroin, methadone, amphetamines and barbiturates rate tobacco as their most addictive drug.

In Australia approximately 30% of men and 27% of women are regular smokers.

Australia has approximately 5.3 million smokers: they smoke on average 18 cigarettes per day or a total of 34, 821 million cigarettes each year.

In Australia, in the 1940s and 1950s, nearly three quarters (72%) of men were smokers.

The proportion of Australian males who smoke fell from 40% in 1980 to 30% in 1989. The number of female smokers fell from 31% to 27% over the same period.

Smokers who start smoking when young are less likely to quit than those who begin when older.

In Australia 2.9 million people have already succeeded in quitting..

In the age bracket 20 - 24, 41% of men and 38% of women smoke regularly.

By the age of 15 a quarter of boys (25%) and over a quarter of girls ((28%) are regular smokers.

Surveys have established that up to 80% of smokers would like to stop smoking.

A quarter of smokers believe that smoking is not harmful.

A recent survey showed only 5% of respondents would be in favour of unrestricted smoking in restaurants.

Australian school children spend more than $30 million a year - $82,000 each day - on cigarettes.

In Australia $6,763 billion or 47% of the total economic cost of drug abuse is attributable to tobacco. This includes:

$609.6 million in direct health care costs

$6,028.3 million in indirect mortality costs

The tobacco industry spends upward of $70 million on cigarette advertising and promotion each year. Much of this advertising appears to be directed at recruiting children to smoke.

Around 140 Australians die each year from lung cancer caused by breathing other people's smoke.

Eight out of ten people favour some restrictions on smoking at work. Even smokers favour some restrictions: 67% of smokers favour some restrictions and 5% favour a total ban.