Report: Smoking more of a threat than ever

Smoking cigarettes can cause even more health problems than lung cancer, including blindness, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, and liver cancer, according to a major US government report.

The latest surgeon general’s findings on the health consequences of smoking were to be formally announced at the White House, in a ceremony marking 50 years since the first landmark report warned Americans that cigarettes caused lung cancer.

Even though 18% of Americans now smoke compared to 42% five decades ago, modern cigarettes are more potent and more dangerous than ever, said acting surgeon general Boris Lushniak.