You know the dangers. You know the facts. You've heard the stories. You've seen the results. And despite repeated warnings from the Surgeon General, you know people who do it daily, if not hourly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States alone, 44.5 million people smoke, or nearly 1 in 5 Americans. The American Cancer Society estimates 1 in 4 U.S. adults smoke. And there is little evidence that smoking will decrease. ACS reports nearly 1 in 3 people age 18 to 24 smoke.

Smoking, however, is more than just a bad habit. It's a leading killer in the world. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use causes more deaths worldwide than AIDS, illegal drugs, motor vehicle accidents, murder and suicide combined. In the United States alone, nearly 500,000 people die each year from tobacco use. That means approximately once a minute someone will die from smoking. By the time you finish this article, five more people will die because they were smokers.