Did you know that tobacco can cause up to 13 types of cancer?

Cancer remains one of the diseases that is causing the most harm in the world and, therefore, continues to be a public health problem in all countries.

Yolanda Bermúdez Niño, a nurse from the University of Cundinamarca and a master in oncological nursing, has been conducting research on the prevention and early detection of cancer in order to reduce the number of people who die from this disease and to raise awareness about it.

Tobacco is one of the main causes of cancer and according to analyses, addiction to nicotine and other substances could trigger up to 13 types of cancer.

“There are 13 types of cancer caused by tobacco; some affect the tongue, mucous membranes, larynx, and mouth. The solution? Don't smoke, quit smoking,” stated the Master of Science in Oncology Nursing.

Therefore, the number one risk factor for developing cancer is tobacco use, and for many years tobacco has been one of the most significant carcinogens. Tobacco use is understood as the consumption of the substance, not only by smoking but also by licking or swallowing cigarettes, which generates addiction and mutational changes.

In fact, by mutating, it creates severity in the human body because tobacco is capable of damaging the guardian of the human genome, which leads to a series of diseases.

“It has been difficult to get people to quit smoking. A third of the world's population over the age of 15 smokes, and around 1.3 billion men worldwide are smokers, 50% of whom live in developing countries. Meanwhile, there are 250 million women smokers globally,” the nurse explained.

Although she and most experts warn that the solution to preventing more cancer cases is to quit smoking, public policies have done nothing to enforce this measure and, instead, continue to receive the money generated by the tobacco industry for the health sector. In this way, it is difficult to isolate the addict from the problem.

“Health must be the priority above economic factors. The only valid policy is to promote non-consumption, a strategy to help current smokers quit,” Bermúdez stated.

Addicts should keep in mind that the best thing is to quit smoking, and that if even a person under 40 years of age manages to stop smoking for the rest of their life, the risk of getting cancer decreases.

Globally, according to Globocan in 2018, the cancer mortality rate was around 9 million people, and most of them died from lung, stomach, liver or colorectal cancer.

The Pan American Health Organization predicts that by 2030, the number of cancer cases in Latin America and the Caribbean will have risen to more than 5 million people per year, due to changes in the lifestyle of modern man.

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