Q: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently published the number of people murdered by guns each year in the U.S. I would like to know the number of deaths in the U.S. every year that can be directly related to cigarette smoking and car wrecks.
— Jim Turner, Rutledge
A: Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causes about 380,000 deaths a year, according to research by the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products. Using new types of research, the Center for Tobacco Products found there are about 200,000 smoking-attributable deaths among men and 180,000 smoking-attributable deaths among women every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website states: "More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined." The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported that 32,367 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2011, the lowest number of fatalities since 1949.
Q: The term jihad regularly appears in the news. What does it mean?
— Roy Graham, Sandy Springs
A: Jihad is defined as "a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty, … a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline (or) a crusade for a principle or belief," according to Merriam-Webster.com. The Associated Press Stylebook, which is used by many media outlets, describes jihad as an "Arabic noun used to refer to the Islamic concept of the struggle to do good. In particular situations, that can include holy war, the meaning extremist Muslims commonly use."
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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