Each day, about 4,000 kids try their first cigarette; and each day another 1,500 other kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. That’s 545,000 new underage daily smokers each year.

• About 90 percent of all adult smokers begin while in their teens, or earlier, and nearly two-thirds become regular, daily smokers before they reach the age of 19.

• 23.2 percent of high school students are current smokers by the time they leave high school

• 21.7 percent of all high school students (9-12 grades) are current smokers, including 21.8% of females and 21.6% of males. White high school students have the highest smoking rate (24.8 %) compared to American Indian/Alaska Native (24.5%), Hispanics (20.5%), Asians (11.3%), and AfricanAmericans (10.9%).

• Roughly one-third of all youth smokers will eventually die prematurely from smoking-caused disease.

• Smoking can also seriously harm kids while they are still young. Besides the immediate bad breath, irritated eyes and throat, and increased heartbeat and blood pressure, near-term harms from youth smoking include respiratory problems, reduced immune function, increased illness, tooth decay, gum disease, and pre-cancerous gene mutations.

• Smoking during youth is also associated with an increased likelihood of using illegal drugs.

• The cigarette companies spend more than $15.1 billion each year to promote their products – that's more than $41 million spent every day to market cigarettes, and much of that marketing directly reaches and influences kids.

• A Journal of the National Cancer Institute study found that teens were more likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure. Similarly, a Journal of the American Medical Association study found that as much as a third of underage experimentation with smoking was attributable to tobacco company marketing efforts.

• An estimated 15.5 million children 18 and under are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.

• An estimated 800 million packs of cigarettes are consumed by young people 18 and under each year.