Smoking Kills 17 Australians Daily: Study

At least 17 Australians lose their lives daily by smoking through preventable heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases, new research led by the Australian National University has found.

Professor Emily Banks, from ANU's National Center for Epidemiology and Population Health, said the research has examined the effect of smoking on all cardiovascular diseases.

The study, considered to be the most in-depth of its kind in the world, was conducted on men, women, city, country, rich, and poor; it discovered that smoking causes terrible harm across the board.

The study has also unveiled that more than 6400 Australians are dying each year from cardiovascular diseases caused by smoking.

"There are about 2.7 million smokers in Australia today,” said Professor Banks “These smokers have triple the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to non-smokers and doubled the risk of having a heart attack, stroke or heart failure. They are also five times more likely to develop peripheral cardiovascular diseases”.

CEO of the Heart Foundation John Kelly said: "This new evidence is disturbing. It shows that our battle to eliminate the devastation tobacco brings to people's lives is far from over.

"We urge the government to maintain tobacco control as a top priority.” he added.

Contributed by: Yara Sameh