Lung cancer mortality rates are about 23 times higher for current male smokers and 13 times higher for current female smokers compared to lifelong never-smokers. In addition to being responsible for 87% of lung cancers, smoking is also associated with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, uterine cervix, kidney, and bladder. Smoking accounts for at least 29% of all cancer deaths, is a major cause of heart disease, and is associated with conditions ranging from colds and gastric ulcers to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and cerebrovascular disease.
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Secondhand Smoke In 1993, the US Environmental Protection Agency declared that secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a human carcinogen. Each year, about 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing the smoke of others’ cigarettes.
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