Every breath they take is killing them

BEIJING - By blowing deeply into a test device, a patient surnamed Zhang discovered his 20-year smoking habit was killing him, breath by breath.

Zhang was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is caused by noxious particles, most commonly from tobacco smoke, at a tobacco cessation clinic at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.

Worldwide, the disease was the sixth leading cause of death in 1990 and is projected to be the fourth by 2030, according to Yu Hongxia, a doctor at the clinic.