Given that breast cancer incidence is soon to be eclipsed by lung cancer incidence among women, further data clarifying the role of smoking in causing breast cancer should be of value in strengthening efforts to inform and assist women to quit smoking. Similar to bladder cancer, carcinogens inhaled by the smoker are thought to enter the blood stream and reach the pancreas via the blood and also bile, secreted by the liver to aid digestion. Colon Again, like bladder and pancreatic cancer, colon cancer risk is increased among smokers, presumably due to the transport of carcinogens to the colon from inhaled or swallowed tobacco smoke. Data supporting this association come from several longitudinal studies in which groups of people are followed over many years to record the occurrence of various illnesses. Based on data from both mal and female health professionals in the USA, smoking appears to double the risk of colon cancers.
Most colon cancers begin as polyps, precursor growths for cancer.
Risk of cancer increases with polyp size and there is a dose-response relationship with increasing years of tobacco use associated with larger polyps and, after 35 years of smoking, colon cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine Association between cigarette smoking and mutation of the p53 gene in squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck by Brennan JA, Boyle JO, Koch WM, et al. For more information and comments, please contact the Tobacco Free Inititative or visit the TFI contacts page. All rights reserved.