How tobacco products are linked to cancer

(WYTV)- From the traditional cigarette to the modern electronic cigarette, from the communal hookah to the discreet pinch of smokeless tobacco, each has proven to be bad for you, plain bad.

Doctors insist there really is no “lesser evil” when it comes to tobacco use. Smoked tobacco has the strongest association with cancer, and it goes beyond cigarettes.

“Hookah, which is a smoked and inhaled tobacco, has a similar cancer risk because it’s the process of smoking and inhaling those 7,000 chemicals that increase the risk for cancer,” said Dr. Jon Ebbert.

A common misconception is that cigars are less harmful than cigarettes. They carry all the same risks. Even cigar users who tend to not inhale are still at risk. The tissues in your mouth are still exposed to the cigar smoke.

Head and neck cancers are more common in people who smoke cigars as well as those who use
smokeless tobacco, which we can link to pancreatic and kidney cancer.

And electronic cigarettes release heavy metals and we know those are known, theoretically, to lead to cancer.

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