Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog

I used to smoke. I started when I was 16, continued through college and med school. I stopped for the first time in 1963 when the Surgeon General’s report came out on the harmful effects of smoking. Of course, I already knew smoking was harmful. My dad, a long time smoker, had emphysema. But, in 1963, I was a doctor and felt I couldn’t tell my patients to stop if I was smoking.

About 2 years later, I started again. I thought I could smoke at parties or after meals, but soon the habit returned although I wasn’t smoking more than 5-10 cigarettes a day. I kicked the habit a couple of times more after that and finally became smoke-free in my mid 30s.

Whenever I tried to stop smoking, I would take up cheap cigars to help me. After a couple of sickening weeks of those, I was ready to forego all tobacco. I thought that I was weaning myself (literally) off the sucking sensation. I thought that was the main attraction of smoking. Now I know better.

Nicotine is addictive. That’s why the cigars helped wean me off. When I worked for the American Cancer Society, which is dedicated to eliminating tobacco use, I learned a lot about smoking. One fact that has stuck with me is that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances we know. I also learned that teenagers, like myself when I started, are the age group most susceptible to becoming addicted to nicotine and thus tobacco.

All this came to mind when the Centers for Disease Control published the recent figures on how many people in the U.S. smoke. The sad news is that after a continued drop in smoking rates through the early part of this century, in the last 2-3 years the rates haven’t budged. A little over one-fifth of adult Americans smoke. This number is a little higher in young adults and drops in the elderly – probably because of all that coughing and their doctor’s advice after the heart attack.

Other interesting numbers published by the CDC is how many people with chronic illnesses smoke or used to smoke. For example over 80% of people with lung cancer smoke or smoked in the past.

A little known fact – nearly three-fourths of people with other kinds of cancer are or were smokers. Smoking increases the chances of getting other cancers. All those carcinogens get into the blood stream after they are inhaled and wreak havoc with the DNA of lots of our cells. Cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia, cervical cancer, colon, and stomach cancer are also increased in smokers. A big one is bladder cancer. All those bladder-lining cells are just bathing in tobacco carcinogens. And, the list goes on and on.

As we all know smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and probably throughout the world. Unfortunately, the tobacco companies are relentless. They aim their marketing message at the most susceptible group – teenagers. So, if the smoking rate in the U.S. is going to drop, we will have to block their messages and protect our teenagers. But the tobacco companies are a formidable enemy and after losing smokers for many years, they have begun to fight back successfully. Beating them will take a major decision by this country to eliminate this health hazard. So far, the most successful approach has been to raise the price (taxes). Yes, this places an undue burden on a lot of adult tobacco addicts, many of whom are in lower economic classes. But, studies have shown it will dissuade cash strapped teenagers

The big question is do we have the will? Legislation needs to be passed and the tobacco companies won’t go quietly into the night.

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