In this news report from the Anadolu Agency (AA) file titled "One Breath, A Thousand Poisons", the negative effects of tobacco use on public health and the risk of cancer were discussed.
Head of the Radiation Oncology Department at the University of Health Sciences and Bakırköy Training and Research Hospital Radiation Oncology Clinic Education and Administrative Officer Prof. Dr. Esengül Koçak told the AA reporter that the carcinogenic substances contained in tobacco affect the body's inflammatory system.
Stating that tobacco is a substance that contains carcinogens that have the potential to cause cancer wherever it passes from the entrance of the body to the exit of toxins, Koçak said, "Therefore, unfortunately, a little or a lot of it is harmful. There are more than 7 thousand harmful substances in tobacco products. Approximately 70 of them cause cancer. Tobacco use increases the risk of lung cancer by 15-20 times. Tobacco causes an increase in the subtypes of lung cancer. It also has a very high risk of bladder cancer, which is little known in the society." increases at a higher rate." he said.
Stating that the rate at which tobacco increases the risk of cancer is also related to the duration of use and the amount of cigarettes consumed per day, Koçak said, "The more a person is exposed, that is, there will be a difference between smoking 3 cigarettes a day and smoking 100 cigarettes. Many cells and DNA will be damaged. Therefore, it is important to stop using tobacco. After quitting, the body begins to heal. Moreover, electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products are not innocent. Especially the fact that tobacco use is banned in closed environments as a policy of our state is, in my opinion, one of the best cancer protection methods for our citizens." he said.
Passive smokers also carry cancer risk
Stating that passive smokers also carry the risk of cancer, Koçak said that a person who does not smoke but works in a coffeehouse has the potential to get cancer as high as smokers due to the environment they live in.
Koçak emphasized that especially young people should be kept away from tobacco products and said, "For a healthy society, it is necessary to give healthy nutrition and sports habits to our young people." he said.
Bezmialem Vakıf University Faculty of Medicine, Head of Chest Diseases Department, Prof. Dr. Hacı Ahmet Bircan also stated that tobacco use is one of the most important public health threats faced by humanity in the world and said that tobacco use, which has harmful effects on every organ in the body, causes many cancers.
Stating that 1.2 billion people worldwide use tobacco products, Bircan stated that 80 percent of this is made up of people living in low-middle income countries. Bircan stated that one in every three adults uses tobacco products, and 50 percent of men and 15 percent of women smoke.
Emphasizing that chronic diseases caused by smoking are life-threatening and that approximately 7 million people die every year due to smoking in the world, Bircan stated that 100 thousand people die every year in Türkiye due to smoking-related health problems.
Bircan emphasized that smoking has a direct relationship with lung cancer as well as mouth, tongue, larynx, trachea and bladder cancer due to excretion of tobacco metabolites through urine and said, "We also know that it is associated with many types of cancer such as prostate, pancreatic and liver cancers. People do not get cancer by smoking a single cigarette. But smoking countless cigarettes every day causes structural damage to the DNA of the cells in our body. There are repair mechanisms of DNA in the body. When these repair mechanisms are insufficient, mutation development occurs there and these mutations occur." "As a result, cancer development occurs." made his assessment.
"We know that smoking alone causes lung cancer at a rate of 80-90 percent."
Stating that the probability of developing cancer in smokers increases 20-30 times compared to non-smokers, Bircan continued as follows:
"The use of other tobacco products other than cigarettes (such as pipes, hookahs, cigars) also increases the risk of cancer. The more a person smokes, the more cigarettes he smokes per day, and the earlier he starts smoking, the greater the risk. Cancer can also develop in people who are passively exposed to cigarette smoke even though they do not smoke themselves. The risk of cancer in this group, which we call passive smokers, increases by 20-30 percent compared to non-smokers. Electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products are also extremely harmful to human health. This "The vapor created by the products contains chemicals and toxic substances along with nicotine. Therefore, the perception of the young generation that these products are healthy and can be used safely has to be broken. It is known that people who use such devices become addicted to smoking at higher rates."
Bircan stated that one of the biggest causes of lung cancer is tobacco and tobacco products and said, "When we ask how related it is, we know that 80-90 percent of cigarettes alone cause lung cancer." he said.
Stating that smoking is not the only cause of lung cancer, Bircan said, "What else could it be? There may be a genetic family predisposition. Or there may be previous lung diseases. Or the person may have been exposed to substances such as radiation in the environment where he/she works. In such cases, cancer increases." he said.
