Smoking and cancer
Smoking is the leading cause of cancer worldwide, and tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. These deaths could be prevented if people didn’t use tobacco.
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Tobacco contains many substances that cause cancer (carcinogens). All forms of tobacco cause cancer regardless of whether they are smoked (such as pipes, cigars, “light” cigarettes, roll-ups and shishas), chewed, sucked or inhaled (such as smokeless tobacco and betel quid).
Second hand smoke or passive smoking (breathing in someone else’s tobacco smoke) also increases the risk of lung cancer and other smoking related diseases, and is particularly dangerous for children as it can increase their risk of developing health conditions like asthma and respiratory conditions.
Which cancers are linked to smoking?
Many people know that smoking causes lung cancer, but it can also increase the risk of:
- oesophageal cancer
- laryngeal cancer (see our information on head and neck cancers)
- pharyngeal cancer (see our information on head and neck cancers)
- bowel cancer
- blood cancer
- bladder cancer
- liver cancer
- mouth cancer (see our information on head and neck cancers)
- pancreatic cancer
- stomach cancer
- breast cancer
E-cigarettes, vaping and cancer
The latest evidence suggests using e-cigarettes, or vaping, is much less harmful for lung cancer risk than smoking tobacco. This is because e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco. However, the long-term health impact of e-cigarettes is not yet known. E-cigarettes contain nicotine, which makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive. However, nicotine doesn’t cause cancer.
Not smoking or giving up smoking is the best way to reduce your cancer risk and the risk to people around you. Maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and keeping active are also important.
> What are our Cancer Prevention Recommendations?
There’s lots of free advice and support available to help you give up smoking, including from the NHS in the UK.
What’s the science behind smoking and cancer?
Cigarette smoke contains harmful chemicals. When you smoke, these chemicals enter your lungs and affect your whole body. These chemicals damage the DNA in cells. As this DNA damage builds up, it can cause cancer.
For scientists
We fund research into how smoking interplays with diet, weight and physical activity to affect the risk of developing cancer.
Diet and Cancer Report
Our 2018 Diet and Cancer report found strong evidence that consuming high-dose beta-carotene supplements increases the risk of lung cancer in people who smoke or used to smoke tobacco.
> Read the relevant chapter in our science and policy library
Preventing cancer. Saving lives
While society continues to search for a cure, our prevention and survival work helps people to live longer, healthier lives – free from the devastating effects of cancer.