Surgeon General’s Report: Smoking Causes Erectile Dysfunction

If your New Year’s resolution is to quit smoking, a new study from the U.S. Surgeon General will give you additional incentive to kick the habit. The report shows that smoking causes more health problems than previously thought. The report links smoking with Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cleft palate birth defects and – you guessed it – erectile dysfunction.

History of Surgeon General’s Report

The report comes 50 years after the pivotal 1964 surgeon general’s report in which the government concluded for the first time that smoking caused lung cancer.

It was the first piece of scientific evidence that started the war on cigarettes. Since that time, the Surgeon General has added a laundry list of smoking-related health problems to the list each year. Bladder cancer was added in 1990 and cervical cancer in 2004.

Second-hand smoke and the dangerous effects is can have on children was first mentioned in the report twenty years ago.

Number of smokers

The number of smokers in the country is on the decline. In 2012, 18 percent of Americans were smokers, or about 43 million U.S. adults. Back in 1965, about 43 percent of Americans were lighting up.

“Even though the Americans who smoke are smoking fewer cigarettes, the risk of dying among smokers is increasing,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says.

He is one of many in the health community who believes more should be done to stop people from getting addicted to nicotine in the first place.

“The real emphasis needs to be put on the fact that we still have a major and tragic catastrophe going on,” said acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak told The Globe. “Enough is enough.”