A tobacco smoker prepares the most fertile ground and creates the perfect conditions for genesis & growth of cancer by providing many lethal carcinogens, toxins & free radicals as well as creating deficiency of antioxidants and suppressing the immune system of the body. Tobacco smoking can cause many cancers including those of the mouth, throat, vocal cord, lung, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix and blood. India has the highest rate of oral cancers in the world due to the wide spread habit of tobacco chewing. Studies have revealed that tobacco related cancers account for more than one third of all the cancer deaths.
Tobacco smoke generates more than 2000 chemical compounds, most of which are toxic and carcinogenic. The level of Carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke is eight times higher than the maximum permissible limits. Carbon monoxide cuts down the oxygen carrying capacity of the red blood cells, thus reducing the oxygen supply to the vital organs such as brain, heart and lungs.
Tobacco contains Nicotine, which is not only addictive but also one of the major cancer promoters. Tobacco tar contains hydrocarbons such as Nitrosamines, Benzene, Benzopyrenes and other toxic compounds, which are major carcinogens. Benzopyrene damages the tumour suppressor gene (p53 gene) in the exposed cells of the lungs, leading to genesis of cancer. Tobacco tar also contains radioactive compounds such as Potassium-40 and Radium-226, having carcinogenic effects. Cigarette smoking generates an extraordinary amount of free radicals (highly reactive, unstable molecules) in the body that promote growth of cancer. Antioxidants normally neutralise the free radicals but the smokers are having much lower levels of vitamin C and other antioxidants in their blood. The activity of natural killer (NK) cells also gets suppressed in tobacco smokers that further enhances the risk of cancer. Cancer genesis in smokers depends on the quantity of cigarettes and the duration of smoking. Even non-smoking persons living in the vicinity of smokers (passive smokers) are not spared from the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke. It is estimated that about twenty per cent of the total lung cancers develop due to passive smoking. The risk of cancer drops considerably, when a person stops smoking.
Leukoplakia is a white thickened patch that usually appears in the mucous membrane of the oral cavity in tobacco-chewers & smokers. With continued use of tobacco, it progresses to form cancer. On the other hand, if the person having Leukoplakia stops tobacco-chewing & smoking, the leukoplakic patch does not develop into cancer, instead it gradually reverts back to the normal tissue. Tobacco smoking in women can lead to cervical dysplasia (an altered patch of cervical tissue that can progress to cancer). Studies conducted by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London on the women smokers having cervical dysplasia, revealed that the lesions reduce remarkably in those women who stop smoking for more than six months.
Smoking is a learned behaviour that is usually adopted at a young age. Once trapped, the person is likely to continue smoking despite the feeling that he or she can give it up. Tobacco smokers easily become physically and mentally addicted to it. By the time the smoker develops craving; it becomes a true addiction. It has been observed that the smokers have an exceptionally powerful desire to smoke, as strong as in the heroin addicts.
Many tobacco smokers have the excuse that smoking is the solution for their problems such as the inability to concentrate, lack of confidence and boredom. The most common excuse for a person to smoke is the perception that it relieves anxiety & stress. Smoker thinks that smoking tranquillises the person in anxious moments, unaware of the fact that it has just the opposite effect as smoking makes the person more tense by increasing the pulse rate and blood pressure.
A firm determination is required to quit smoking. Most of the smokers, who would like to give up smoking, might succeed initially, but ultimately only twenty per cent of them are able to quit. The effort to quit smoking may not yield much result, unless the conditions that have inspired the person to start smoking behaviour are altered. The best time to quit smoking is during an illness, when the natural desire to smoke is reduced. Withdrawal symptoms of smoking include lethargy, headache, sore throat, weight gain, etc., most of which are temporary in nature and normally disappear within a fortnight. The risk of cancer drops considerably, when a person stops smoking.