Ask most people about tobacco and cancer and they will say lung cancer. They
are right about that: **smoking cigarettes and exposure to other people's
cigarette smoke cause almost 9 of every 10 deaths from lung cancer.**
But tobacco use can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body, including:
- Bladder
- Blood — acute myeloid leukaemia
- Cervix
- Colon and rectum
- Oesophagus
…and further sites beyond those.
Why the other list matters
A person who has decided the lung cancer risk is one they will accept has, in
their own mind, made a complete calculation. They have not.
Leukaemia and cervical cancer are not diseases anybody associates with
cigarettes, and neither is colorectal cancer. The bargain being struck is
considerably worse than the one most smokers believe they are striking, and
that is the entire reason this page exists separately from the lung cancer
one.
The good news, stated as plainly
Quitting tobacco use lowers the risk of cancer.
Not eliminates — lowers, across that whole list of sites, and the reduction
continues the longer the person stays stopped.
*Note: this refers to commercial tobacco products made and sold by tobacco
companies. It does not include traditional tobacco used by Indigenous groups
for religious or ceremonial purposes.*
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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