Smoking Causes Cancer!

Just in case you haven’t heard, Smoking causes cancer, and many more types of cancer than lung cancer. Let’s look at the two main types of cancer smoking and tobacco products can cause.

Smoking is a Direct Cause of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer, with over 1 million people diagnosed yearly, is the most common cancer on the globe. Lung cancer, since it is a necessary body organ, is often more difficult to treat.

Science is almost certain that this type of cancer develops when the cells of the lining of the lungs are damaged by the chemicals in cigarette smoke. There are some 4,000 chemicals that are in this smoke and hundreds
of them are carcinogenic. This means that they damage the DNA of the cells, and this happens from the very first cigarette. These damaged cells must be cleaned up by the body’s immune system, but when the damage comes more rapidly than the clean up system can handle, cancer may result.

Smoking is a Direct Cause of Throat and Mouth Cancer

Throat cancer develops when these same carcinogenic chemicals attack the cells of the mouth and throat. This type of cancer may be easier to treat in early stages, but it is usually not caught until the disease has progressed.

Smoking is linked to Other Types of Cancer

There are other types of cancer that smoking is linked to, such as bladder, cervical, liver, stomach, pancreas, and esophageal cancers, which may have more to do with the toxic nicotine in the bloodstream more than direct exposure to the tobacco smoke. The US Surgeon General said it best when they said, “Quitting at any time gives your body a chance to heal the damage caused by smoking.” “It’s never too late to quit, but the sooner you do it, the better.”

Resources:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/tobacco/smoking
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513130635.htm
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/12/20101209a.html