Tobacco smoke causes immediate damage: U.S. report

Cigarette smoke causes immediate damage to a person's lungs and their DNA even in small amounts, including from second-hand smoke, U.S. federal officials said on Thursday in a new report.

The report said tobacco companies deliberately designed cigarettes and other tobacco products to be addictive and that they released new products that are portrayed as safer but that are in fact just as dangerous and addictive.

The report notes that studies have shown cigarettes kill 443,000 people every year in the United States -- one in every five people who die -- from cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other causes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says efforts to reduce smoking have stalled in recent years. Between 1998 and 2008, the number of smokers fell by 3.5 percent, from 24.1 percent to 20.6 percent.

"The economic burden of cigarette use includes more than $193 billion annually in health care costs and loss of productivity," Sebelius said.