TURKEY:200,000 Turkish People Die Annually from Smoking() (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

200,000 Turkish People Die Annually from Smoking

by Xinhua via NewsEdge
Date: Wednesday, 2/10/99

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : ANKARA (Feb. 9) XINHUA - A total of
about 200,000 people die from illness related to smoking in Turkey every
year, local Daily News reported here Tuesday. 


The paper quoted Turkish Green Crescent Community Chairman Selahattin
Kaptanagasi as saying that among the death toll, 160,000 are heavy smokers
and 40,000 are babies and young people who are affected by the second-hand
smoke from cigarettes.


Kaptanagasi pointed out that smoking shortens a person's life by 17-20
years and also causes premature aging.


The paper also said that 99 percent of throat cancer, 90 percent of lung
cancer, 90 percent of the amputations of arms and legs and 85 percent of
brain hemorrhages are seen in people who smoke.


Meanwhile, 65 percent of the women who give birth to children with birth
defects or children who die soon after birth are addicts to cigarettes.