Smoking kills and everybody, including smoker and their non-smoker friends, know this. But what many people don’t realize is how bad women are hurt by it.

Here is what smoking does to women:

1. Cancer: Apart from causing oral, throat, pancreas, esophagus, bladder cancers, smoking increases the chances of having a breast cancer and lung cancer. Lung Cancer kills more women every year than Breast Cancer and Colon Cancer together do.

2. Lung Diseases: Apart from Lung Cancer, smoking causes Bronchitis and Emphysema. Today 90% women who died of Bronchitis and Emphysema were smokers.

3. Cardiovascular Effects: As in men, smoking causes hardening of arteries, heart attack, heart strokes, and coronary heart disease.

4. Pregnancy Effects: The worst hit women are pregnant women. Not because they are killed, it is their newborns who are hugely affected. Many times, babies of smoking mothers are born dead, or if they live are born with lung problems along with weight and growth problems.

Smoking can be controlled with effective tips. Find great tips to quit smoking here: Ten Tips to Quit Smoking