It is widely known that smoking tobacco can damage the lungs. But many people do not know that it can also cause heart disease and stroke. That information comes from World Health Organization (WHO) officials in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO marked May 31 as World No Tobacco Day. The WHO’s 2018 campaign focuses on the damage smoking does to the cardiovascular system. Health experts at the WHO say that cardiovascular diseases (CVD) kill about 18 million people each year. Tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure cause nearly 17% of all heart disease deaths. They add that tobacco use is the second leading cause of cardiovascular disease, after high blood pressure.