Several attempts are made by the health department and NGOs to persuade those who smoke to quit the bad habit once and for all. The majority of those you ask to stop smoking will come up with the silliest of excuses.

In America, there was a time in the past when women hardly ever smoked whereas men smoked regularly. The number of men who died of heart diseases or lung cancer was by far bigger than that of women.

However, now that women smoke as much as men, deaths from heart-related diseases and cancer are equal.