Smoking Related Diseases

Smoking can cause a number of different health issues. There is quite a long list of smoking related diseases, and that list continues to grow with additional research. It was in May of 2004 that the U.S. Surgeon General determined that the toxins from cigarettes enter the blood stream, allowing these toxins to travel all over the body. This can cause damage to almost every organ in the body, including cancers of the cervix, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, bladder, esophagus, lungs and throat. Hundreds of thousands of people die in the United States each year from smoking related diseases, but medical professionals hope that this 2004 discovery will provide an incentive for people to stop smoking.

There have also been findings to debunk the myth that a "light" cigarette is better than a "full" cigarette. There is no "safe" cigarette available. Your best bet to avoid the severe health conditions smoking creates is to stop or just never start.

Quitting smoking will result in immediate improvement in your health. Internally, your body will begin to repair itself. If you stop smoking altogether, these corrective steps will continue for years. In fact, even quitting at the age of 65 will increase your chance greatly of not dying from smoking related diseases.

From a legal standpoint, "smoking related diseases" has become an important term in Florida. In what has become known as the "Engle" class action, the Florida Supreme Court held that smoking causes the following diseases:

• Aortic aneurysms
• bladder cancer
• cerebrovascular disease
• cervical cancer
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• coronary heart disease
• esophageal cancer
• kidney cancer
• laryngeal cancer
• lung cancer
• complications of pregnancy
• oral cavity and tongue cancer
• pancreatic cancer
• peripheral vascular disease
• pharyngeal cancer
• stomach cancer.

What this means for you is that if you're a smoker and you're suffering from any of these smoking related diseases, you need to contact an attorney immediately. An experienced trial attorney will be able to help guide you through the legal process of holding these corporate giants accountable for your potentially-terminal health condition.

The reason the individual smoker should not waste time in contacting an attorney is that when the Florida Supreme Court held that smoking causes the diseases listed above, they ruled as a matter of law that future plaintiffs will not need to prove the connection between smoking and these health problems. Your attorney will be able to explain this in more detail, but basically, your job of proving that the tobacco companies are responsible for your condition is easier now than it was before the ruling in the "Engle" class action. Contact an attorney today to find out more and to protect your rights.