One Cigarette Can Kill You: Surgeon General

Even a single cigarette can cause immediate damage to your very DNA, while inflaming tissue and leading to illness and death, the surgeon general said today in the office’s first report on tobacco in four years. “Tobacco smoke damages almost every organ in your body,” Surgeon General Regina Benjamin warned, according to the USA Today, adding that to a person with heart disease, “One cigarette can cause a heart attack.”

The report also reveals that cigarettes are more addictive these days because tobacco manufacturers have specifically designed them to be. They’ve added ammonia to the tobacco, which makes the nicotine get to the brain faster, enlarged filters so smoke can be inhaled more deeply, and added sugar and “moisture enhancers,” to make the cigarettes more pleasant for new users. (More smoking stories.)