Surgeon general: Smoking linked to more than 30 diseases, conditions

Jan 20 2014

The report, which finds that smoking causes even more physical and financial damage than previously estimated, was released 50 years after the first report tied cigarettes to diseases.

USA Today: Smoking Causes Diabetes, Colon Cancer, New Report Says
A new report from the surgeon general finds that smoking causes even more physical and financial damage than previously estimated, killing 480,000 Americans a year from diseases that include diabetes, colorectal cancer and liver cancer. The report, released today, represents the first time the surgeon general has concluded that smoking is "causally linked" to these diseases (Szabo, 1/17).

The Wall Street Journal: Cigarettes Tied To More Deaths, Types Of Illness
That's a substantial increase over the government's previous estimate of 443,000 deaths, despite the fact that fewer Americans are lighting up and those who do smoke are lighting up less often. Cigarettes are a causal factor in 10 diseases and conditions they hadn't previously been definitively linked to, including diabetes, colorectal cancer, arthritis and erectile dysfunction, the report said-;bringing the total number to more than 30 (Esterl, 1/17).