Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of deaths globally and is the cause of over 8 million deaths annually, 1.2 million of which are non-smokers who die due to second-hand smoke.In the United States, about 500,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking-related diseases and a recent study estimated that as much as 1/3 of China's male population will have significantly shortened life-spans due to smoking. Male and female smokers lose an average of 13.2 and 14.5 years of life, respectively. At least half of all lifelong smokers die earlier as a result of smoking.