Click here to see the report and associated materials.

The Surgeon General's 2001 report on women and smoking has important information on the enormous toll smoking takes on women's health. Specific chapters focus on:

• Patterns of tobacco use among women and girls. This includes the numbers of women who smoke by specific groups, including adult women, adolescent or younger women, girls, and pregnant women. It also shows when women and girls start smoking, other types of tobacco use (besides cigarettes), how women quit (methods used, numbers of attempts to quit), and talks about exposure to environmental, or second-hand, tobacco smoke.

• Health consequences of tobacco use. Many health problems related to smoking are described here including cancer, heart disease, lung disease, thyroid disorders, diabetes, menstrual problems, bone density and risk of bones fracturing or breaking, gastrointestinal disease, arthritis, neurological diseases, and eye disease. The effects of smoking on the skin (facial wrinkling) are also discussed, along with depression and other mental health problems. Addiction to nicotine, or what happens to a person's body when they become dependent on nicotine, is explained here as well. And, the health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke are also described.

• Factors influencing tobacco use among women. This section focuses on the factors, or things, that make a woman start smoking and keep on smoking (like peer pressure, desire to rebel, stress, concerns about weight control), and the factors that make a woman stop smoking. The ways that cigarettes are promoted, or advertised (through TV, magazines, radio) to women, are also discussed.

• Efforts to reduce tobacco use among women. Ways to quit smoking and issues about quitting specifically for women are described. Ways to prevent women and girls from starting to smoke are also discussed. Successful programs to reduce tobacco use among women are highlighted.

• A vision for the future: what is needed to reduce smoking among women. The report's conclusion looks at what needs to be done to reduce and prevent smoking among women and girls. It talks about raising awareness on women and smoking; exposing the tobacco industry's targeting of women; ensuring that women of all racial and ethnic groups are reached and educated; supporting programs to prevent smoking and to help women stop smoking; supporting smoke-free environments; and encouraging a stronger voice in support of reducing and preventing smoking among women.

Other important Federal resources on smoking:

Publications

1.   Dispelling the Myths About Tobacco - A Community Toolkit for Reducing Tobacco Use Among Women - This toolkit includes suggestions and ideas in the form of presentations, programs, media outreach, and other activities. It is organized into tabulated sections so that you can go quickly to the parts that fit your needs, your style, or your audience, and so that you can add, delete, highlight, and edit as you learn through practice. An important highlight is a 17-minute educational video, Women and Tobacco: Seven Deadly Myths, narrated by Christy Turlington.
   
   
2.   Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking: African American Women and Smoking - Fact Sheet - This publication discusses the prevalence of smoking among African American women and the health effects of smoking to these women.
   
   
3.   Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking: American Indian or Alaska Native Women and Smoking - Fact Sheet - This publication discusses the prevalence of smoking in American Indian or Alaska Native women and the health effects of smoking to these women.
   
   
4.   Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking: Asian or Pacific Islander Women and Smoking - Fact Sheet - This publication discusses the prevalence of smoking among Asian American women and the health effects of smoking to these women.
   
   
5.   Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking: Hispanic Women and Smoking - Fact Sheet - This publication discusses the prevalence of smoking among Hispanic women and the health effects of smoking to these women.
   
   
6.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - Effiorts to Reduce Tobacco Use Among Women and Girls - This fact sheet discusses the various efforts to reduce smoking among women and girls. Efforts such as smoking cessation methods, self-help interventions, media campaigns, and others are discussed.
   
   
7.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - Health Consequence of Tobacco Use Among Women - This report explains the health consequences of smoking among women.
   
   
8.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - Marketing Cigarettes to Women - This publication contains information on the history of advertising cigarettes to women, current advertising campaigns, and marketing around the world.
   
   
9.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - Pattern of Tobacco Use Among Women and Girls - This publication contains information on the prevalence of smoking by young women, racial and ethnic groups, pregnant women, trying to quit and how to quit.
   
   
10.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - Tobacco Use and Reproductive Outcomes - This fact sheet provides detailed information on the effects of smoking on a woman's reproductive health, and the health of a baby exposed to cigarette smoke. Detailed statistics are also included.
    
    
11.   Surgeon General's Report: Women and Smoking Fact Sheet - What is Needed to Reduce Smoking Among Women - This fact sheet lists 13 ways the Surgeon General and other anti-smoking organizations can promote awareness of the health risks of smoking and what needs to be done to reduce smoking among women.
    
    
12.   The 2004 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health: - This fact sheet contains a full report from the Surgeon General for 2004; on the affects smoking can have on your health.
    
    
13.   Women and Smoking - A Report of the Surgeon General 2001 (Executive Summary) - This report provides a composite overview of smoking and health issues among woman and girls in the United States. The executive summary version of the report is a technical publication that includes excerpts from the complete report.
    
    
14.   Women and Smoking - A Report of the Surgeon General 2001 (Full Report) - This report provides a composite overview of smoking and health issues among woman and girls in the United States. It summarizes patterns of tobacco use among women, factors associated with starting and continuing to smoke, the health consequences of smoking, tobacco marketing targeted at women, and cessation and prevention interventions.
    
    
15.   Women, Tobacco, and Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century - The 2001 report of the Surgeon General, Women and Smoking, identifies several strategies to reduce smoking among women. In addition, in 2001, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) highlighted research on tobacco and tobacco related cancers in its annual budget document. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy People 2010 continues to make smoking cessation and prevention a priority.