Smoking Addiction Causes Cancer

Dr. Dalal Akoury

How Smoking Addiction causes Cancer?

Thank you for smoking! is what you would expect from any one who benefits from the addiction and Cancer epidemics. Sad but true some people benefit from other people pain and affliction.

November is the Lung Cancer Awareness month, that is why AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is dedicating a lot of time to raise the awareness about the association between smoking addiction and cancer. Addiction is an emotional and mental dependence on a substance. Nicotine is the principal addictive substance in tobacco, while there could be other substances that may also contribute to tobacco dependence. Regular smoking of tobacco products lead to addiction in most users. Nicotine is an addictive drug just like cocaine and heroin. Researchers are also investigating on some of the other chemicals in tobacco that make it harder to quit.

The susceptibility to lung cancer has been strongly related with cigarette smoking, in other words Smoking Addiction Causes Cancer . It’s estimated that about 90% of lung cancers are as a result of tobacco use. The susceptibility of lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes an individual smokes over time. Doctors equate this risk in terms of pack-years of smoking chronology. For instance, if a person has smoked two packs of cigarettes in each day for 10 years, he has a history of 20 years of packs. Even though with a 10 pack-year of smoking history can lead to cancer risks, those with a history of smoking over 30 pack-years are considered more susceptible to cancer.

Smoking Addiction Causes Cancer, one in seven who smoke die from Lung Cancer!

Among those people who smoke more packs of cigarettes each day, one in seven will eventually die of lung cancer. Tobacco smoke has over 4,000 chemical substances, most of which have been shown to be causing cancer. The two basic carcinogens in tobacco smoke are substances known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrosamines. The susceptibility of developing lung cancer will decrease every year following cessation of smoking. This is because normal cells always grow to replace the already damaged cells in the lungs. Former smokers have a high susceptibility to developing cancer even 15 years after cessation of smoking. It’s important to note that there is no safe exposure to tobacco. Even Pipe and cigar smoking may also cause lung cancer however not to the same high degree as with cigarettesSmoking. Pipe and cigar smokers have a five fold increase in cancer development compared to non smokers.

Passive smoking

Smoking addiction exposes innocent individuals to smoke passively. Passive Smoking happens when people co-live sharing a place of living or working quarters with active smoker. This scenario has also been established as one way of cancer susceptibility. Research has revealed that non-smokers who reside with smokers have a 24% risk increase of developing lung cancer as compared to other non-smokers. An estimated 3,000 people in the U.S die from cancer -attributable to passive smoking. Smoking Addiction Causes Cancer not only to the active smoker but also to the passive smoker.

Asbestos fibers

Cigarette smoking can also lead to a drastic increase in the chances of developing asbestos. That is how Smoking Addiction Causes Cancer by increasing the risk of asbestosis.
These are silicate fibers that persist for a long period in lung tissue following exposure to asbestos. These fibers are commonly associated with work places. This is because in the past, asbestos was widely used in both acoustic and thermal insulation materials. However, today most countries have banned the use of asbestos. Both mesothelioma and lung cancer are often associated with exposure to asbestos. It’s worth noting that asbestos workers and smokers have a susceptibility risk of about 50-90 times greater than non smokers to develop cancer. On the other hand, Asbestos workers who do not smoke have a lower risk to develop lung Cancer their risk to develop lung cancer of about 5 times that of the non-smokers.

At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center we would like to share this information with you and help you to rid yourself from Smoking Addiction and Cancer