Still Smoking?? These Facts Will Definitely Blow You Off

How Is Smoking Related to Cancer?

Smoking can cause cancer and then block your body from fighting it:

·         Poisons in cigarette smoke can weaken the body’s immune system, making it harder to kill cancer cells. When this happens, cancer cells keep growing without being stopped.

·         Poisons in tobacco smoke can damage or change a cell's DNA. DNA is the cell's "instruction manual" that controls a cell's normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor.

Doctors have known for years that smoking causes most lung cancer. It's still true today, when nearly 9 out of 10 lung cancers are caused by smoking cigarettes. In fact, smokers have a greater risk for lung cancer today than they did in 1964, even though they smoke fewer cigarettes. One reason may be changes in how cigarettes are made and what they contain.⁵

Treatments are getting better for lung cancer, but it still kills more men and women than any other type of cancer. More than 7,300 nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.

Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body, including the.

·         Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)

·         Bladder

·         Cervix

·         Colon and rectum

·         Esophagus

·         Kidneys and ureters

·         Larynx

·         Liver

·         Lungs

·         Mouth, nose, and throat

·         Pancreas

·         Stomach

·         Trachea

Men with prostate cancer who smoke may be more likely to die from these diseases than nonsmokers.

Smokeless tobacco also causes cancer, including cancers of the:

·         Esophagus

·         Mouth and throat

·         Pancreas

How Can Smoking-Related Cancers Be Prevented?

Quitting smoking lowers the risks for cancers of the lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, and larynx.

·         Within 5 years of quitting, your chance of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder is cut in half.

·         Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk of dying from lung cancer drops by half.

If nobody smoked, one of every three cancer deaths in the United States would not happen.