Smoking Induced Head & Neck Cancer
Causes
- Poisons in cigarette smoke can weaken the body’s immune system, making it harder to kill cancer cells
- Poisons in tobacco smoke can damage or change a cell's DNA. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor.
- If you smoke, your risk of cancer can be up to 10 times higher than it is for a person who never smoked.
- Smoking is the direct cause or contributing factor in 30% of cancers
- Tobacco use is considered to be responsible for 85% of head and neck cancers.
