World No Tobacco Day is marked on May 31 annually to raise awareness about the deadly effects of tobacco use and the risk it poses to second-hand smoke exposures.

The day was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its global partners.

This year's theme is "Tobacco is killing us and our planet." Every year, the tobacco industry costs the world more than eight million human lives, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2, according to WHO.

"Tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded. Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, soil and beaches every year," said Dr. Ruediger Krech, director of health promotion at WHO.

Here are a few quotes from Brainy Quote, highlighting the adverse effects of tobacco on humans and the benefits of quitting smoking:

1. "The true face of smoking is disease, death, and horror - not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray." — David Byrne

2. "Tobacco is the only industry that produces products to make huge profits and at the same time damage the health and kill their consumers." — Margaret Chan

3. "The culture is about moving to a place where tobacco and smoking isn't part of normal life: people don't encounter it normally, they don't see it in their big supermarkets, they don't see people smoking in public places, they don't see tobacco vending machines." — Andrew Lansley

4. "I've chosen to get the word out to women, especially young women, that tobacco is not glamorous - it's addictive and smoking takes a serious toll on your health." — Mena Suvari

5. "Cigars, cigarettes, and hookah tobacco are all smoked tobacco — addictive and deadly. We need effective action to protect our kids from struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine." — Tom Frieden

6. "Tobacco smoke contains chemicals that weaken the body's immune system, making it more susceptible to disease and handicapping its ability to destroy cancer cells." — Michael Greger

7. "Tobacco, UV rays, viruses, heredity, and age are the main causes of cancer." — Harold E. Varmus

8. "A lot of people in my life are getting sick or potentially going to get sick from tobacco." — Jeremy London

9. "But you can count the dead bodies from alcohol, tobacco, and legal pharmaceuticals by the millions." — Jack Herer

10. "Tobacco marketing often reaches children and youth and entices them to start using tobacco while they are still at an impressionable age. Nearly four out of five high school cigarette smokers will become adult smokers, even if they intend to quit in a few years. By the time they want to quit, they're hooked." — Tom Frieden

World No Tobacco Day
World No Tobacco Day is celebrated on May 31, every year. In this photo, Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture on the eve of World No Tobacco Day at Puri beach some 65 km from Bhubaneswar, India, May 30, 2015. Getty Images
RELATED STORIES