Smoking, Tobacco and Cancer

This article provides some tips to help you be successful with quitting smoking.

According to the US Surgeon General quitting smoking is the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives. Over 70% of smokers want to quit and as many as 50% attempts to quit every year. Addiction to tobacco is difficult to overcome, even more so without support. So where should a person who wants to quit start?

Your risk of getting lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses and cancers depends on how much cigarette smoke you are exposed to over your lifetime. However, the good news is that the risk of these diseases is reduced when you stop smoking.

This article reviews nicotine replacement therapy to help you quit tobacco use.

This article provides an overview of medications that don't include nicotine to help you quit tobacco.

While most smokers are aware of some of the health problems smoking causes, such as lung cancer and heart disease, they may not be aware of the other types of cancer and other illnesses smoking can cause.

Smokeless tobacco includes: dip, chew, spit, oral and spitless tobacco and dry and moist snuff (snus). Smokeless tobacco is not a safe choice instead of cigarettes.

Secondhand smoke can lead to a variety of health concerns including cancer, SIDS in newborns, ear problems and asthma. The exposure to secondhand smoke can come from cigarettes and/or cigars.

While the risk of developing cancer from cigar and pipe smoking is lower than with cigarettes, it is not zero. There is still a higher risk of cancer in cigar and pipe smokers as compared to non-smokers.

Studies of marijuana and cancer risk are difficult to conduct; this article discusses the health risks associated with smoking marijuana (cannabis).

Even though you can’t “undo” your smoking history, the good news is that that the risk of having lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses decreases after you stop smoking and continues to decrease as more tobacco-free time passes.

Vaping is the inhaling (breathing in) of a vapor/aerosol using a vaping device. Vaping can affect your health and can lead to health issues.

"Exotic" smoking (hookah, bidi, unfiltered cigarettes, and clove cigarettes) is often claimed to be a safer option than traditional tobacco products. This article describes any health risks that may be associated with these practices and gives tips for quitting tobacco altogether.

Parts of the Betel plant and Areca nuts may be used individually or together in the form of a betel quid. In many countries, tobacco is also added, and the product is known as gutka, ghutka, or gutkha. The use of betel and areca nuts is very common in India and other Asian-Pacific countries.