Quit tobacco to prevent cancer
WHO’s theme for World Cancer Day, 2010 is that cancer can be easily prevented. It focuses on simple lifestyle measures that can 
greatly reduce the chance of getting cancer. These measures include quitting smoking, along with drinking less alcohol, eating health food, living an active life and checking infections that cause cancer.
Tobacco use – either through smoking or chewing – is the single, most crucial factor in the development of cancer. Cigarette smoke contains chemicals that are known to affect cells in the body giving rise to cancer. Smoking is responsible for 90 percent of all lung cancer cases. Apart from that, it also causes cancers of the mouth, esophagus and larynx. It is also a contributory factor in the development of cancers of the pancreas, kidneys, stomach, uterus, cervix, colon and bladder.
Non-smokers who inhale cigarette smoke also increase their risk of cancer. This is especially true for children of smokers who grow up breathing cigarette smoke.
Similarly chewing tobacco leads to the carcinogenic substances getting absorbed in tissues in the mouth, leading to oral sub mucous fibrosis, a serious condition that can lead to cancer of the mouth. Smoking or chewing tobacco also increases the risk of myeloid leukemia or blood cancer.
India is especially high in its rate of incidence of cancer, and tobacco is to blame in many cases. Fifty percent of cancers among Indian men are believed to be caused by tobacco. In fact, Bhopal has the highest incidence of tongue cancer among men in the world.
Prevention of cancer, through widespread awareness to quit tobacco use is important to control the growing rates of cancer, in India and globally.
