Tobacco

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of cancer and other non-communicable diseases worldwide. IARC and the U.S. Surgeon General designate over twenty cancer sites or subsites as causally related to active cigarette smoking, including lung, oral cavity, nasal cavity and accessory sinuses, naso- oro- and hypopharynx, larynx, esophagus (squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma), stomach, pancreas, colorectum, liver, kidney (adeno- and transitional cell carcinoma), ureter, urinary bladder, uterine cervix, ovary (mucinous), and acute myeloid leukemia. Even this list may be incomplete, as it does not include sites for which the evidence is still considered limited, such as advanced prostate cancer and breast cancer. In addition to cigarettes, all other forms of smoked and conventional smokeless tobacco products, as well as involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke, cause cancer. The use of multiple tobacco products continues to complicate tobacco control, as does the recent introduction of novel products such as e-cigarettes.