Smoking is now associated with an increasing number of cancers beyond lung cancer, such as bladder, head and neck, breast, cervical, and skin cancer.
Notably:

Smoking more than triples the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common forms of skin cancer, researchers from the Netherlands have shown in 2000.
(The researchers concluded that current smokers were 3.3 times more likely to develop the cancer, and that the risk dropped to 1.9 in former smokers. They also demonstrated a clear relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and cancer risk. Those who smoked 1-10 cigarettes daily had a risk of 2.4; smoking 11-20 cigarettes a day increased the risk to 3.0, and those who smoked 21 or more cigarettes a day had a risk of 4.1. Pipe smokers were also at increased risk, but cigar smokers were not.)
(I wonder if the direct skin contact with smoke plays a role in this.)
This is a big issue because:
Non-melanoma skin cancers are THE most common form of cancer worldwide. (though they can be easily treated, while melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, can be fatal if not detected and treated early enough)
(Skin cancer is also the most common malignancy in the U.S. Half of all new cancers diagnosed in the U.S. are skin cancers.)
(Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer of any country in the world. Two out of three Australians will be treated for some form of skin cancer during their lifetime.)

And active smoking appears to play a larger role in the development of breast cancer than previously thought, according to a 2004 study.
(The incidence of breast cancer among current smokers was approximately 30% greater than that among women who had never smoked, in women without a family history of breast cancer but not among women with a family history of the disease.)
(There was no evidence of an association between passive smoking exposure and breast cancer risk.)
This is a big issue because:
Breast cancer is THE main cause of death from cancer in women globally.

It is not just for women (breast cancer) My father got it, he went to the dr at 48 yrs of age and said look I have 4 lumps on my chest, they took them out right away and told him to come back in 2 weeks for the results (they were stumped, this is a va hostpital) and when he went back in 2 weeks he had 15 more lumps and they told him he had breast cancer and he would not live (he died within a month of finding out) I believe it is somewhere around the range of one in 100,000 men get breast cancer (well that was then, could be more now?) and it is usually fatal in a man, spreads faster and causes death faster. (my grandmom (dads mom) was in her late 90s when she got breast cancer, they removed her breast and she lived one year, and she was way up in age compared to my dad) my grandmom smoked a ciggerette a week my father smoked 4 packs a day .

Just thought I would share about men getting it, doesnt seem that a lot of people know that. (didnt know if you did or not )

Thanks for sharing that Alex...although it stands to reason, I didn't know that smoking was a major contributor to all those other kinds of cancers

I would do anything in my power if my husband would stop smoking, but of course it is totally up to him not me (and of course I love him anyway evil bippy as he is LOL)

The really sad part is that smoking IS an addiction and it isn't easy to give it up....however if I was a drug addict I would have so many options open to me to help me kick the habit at no cost to myself.....yet a smoker gets no help. Yeah sure there are patches and pills etc but they are for the most part more expensive than the actual cigarettes themselves. Of course if everyone gave up smoking then the Government would lose a fortune in taxes wouldn't they.

I will quite if my spouse will, too.

I heard on the news that today is international non-smoking day.

how very true!

Boy ain't that the truth!!

Yep, smoking is bad for you, but what isn't these days? I stopped smoking about a year ago and now almost every day on the news I find out that there is something else out there that can kill me. So that got me to thinking about life and death and you know what? No matter what you do, stop smoking, eat healthy, excercise, and everything else, it makes no difference at all. You can be the healthiest person on the planet but when its all said and done, you're still gonna die.

But for quality of life health is important, at least to me.
(I'm not as happy when I'm ill or hurting.)

you sure arent kidding, I know a (or knew) a guy that never smoked, didnt drink, ate all healthy foods, walked every morning, was in perfect health, looked great , no complaints, was only 38 and dropped dead of a heart attack, now how is that fair? I think if someone trys that hard, they should live to a old age and feel good. If we smoke or whatever we do thats bad for our health it is undersatandable if we get sick or have problems but if you dont do that stuff and you still get the problems it just isnt fair. My fiancees aunt never smoked or drank. she never drove so she walked every where , she ended up with diabites and had both legs cut off and died shortly after, yet she didnt do drugs,. didnt smoke ate good and walked every day. And then there was george burns , he was 100(or older) when he died, he smoked , he drank, and he lived to be so very old and he got around great. I know smoking is bad for us, and if our health is showing because of it, we should quit, but its not a easy thing to do. Some people can quit easy and most cant. oh and another thing, some people do everything to be healthy and dont do any bad things and then they get hit by a car and thats the end, or get murdered, or get cancer (and they didnt smoke) it just isnt fair how life plays out sometimes. I guess it is all up to when it is your time to go, some people are given a chance to live longer if they help them selves, but many arent . one things for sure, the day we are born we are waiting to die, it is inevitable that we are going to die, there is no escaping it.

I have been try quit smoking few time. After read and I start to think maybe this time I get try to quit for good. I get to pick which day to start.

At least he "was in perfect health, looked great" while he lived.
It's no fun to live long but miserably, as with a chronic disease.

That depends. Sometimes those painkillers make life worth livin'!!

good luck catnip



yes but he died so young, george burns on the other hand lived happily (cept for the loss of his wife wich he never remarried because of her , he loved her so) he was in good health till the end, and he did the things he shouldnt. I think a lot has to do with how good your imune system is too, if you have a bad imune sustem you will get ill more, I have a friend and her and her daughter are always sick, coughing, sinus infections, they get bronchitis and phnemonia all the time, and neither has smoked a ciggerette in their life, and they are miserable. If smoming is causeing problems like breathing problems and such(or cancer) then yes you should definately quit, but it may be very hard for you, need really good will power and to find somehting very low callerie to eat when you get the urge tosmoke (otherwise you may gain a ton of weight wich that in itself can also bring some bad health issues. and I dont think anyone should live with chronic problems if there is a way to fix it like to stop smoking or drinking or whatever it is that is making them sick. just saying that a lot of healthy people who dont drink or smoke or do drugs, get sick and some die for no apparent reason.

lol I wish, I have a really bad back, about to have my second surgery in less then 2 years, and pain killers dont take the pain away, so nope they dont always make it worth it , (im probably just not getting the good stuff huh? LOL)