What is the Single Best Thing You Can Do to Quit Smoking?
If I don’t inhale will I have less of a chance of getting a disease, such as lung cancer?
It is important to remember that there both direct and indirect risks from smoking, whether or not one inhales. You are still exposing your body to tar and nicotine. While not inhaling reduces the direct exposure of tar and nicotine to the lungs, it does not eliminate exposure.
Smokers who do not inhale are still breathing secondhand smoke and continue to be at risk for lung cancer. Additionally, the carcinogenic effects of tar and nicotine are still absorbed by the body, and therefore the risk of a variety of cancers, such as bladder cancer and pancreatic cancer, remains unchanged.
While the direct toxicity of tar and nicotine is reduced to the lungs, it continues to have direct toxic effects to the mouth, gums, teeth, tongue, nasal linings, and esophagus. Pipe and cigar smokers, who often do not inhale, are at an increased risk for lip, mouth, tongue, and some other cancers. Even limited smoking, such as one or two cigarettes per day, or inhaling three to five grams of tobacco per day (environmental smoke) puts your health at risk.
PREVENTION
What is the “Great American Smoke Out”?
“The Great American Smoke Out” is an annual event sponsored by The American Cancer Society. On November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society successfully prompted nearly one million smokers to quit smoking for a day. That event marked the first “Great American Smoke Out,” which has now become a yearly nationwide event.
“The Great American Smoke Out” has helped to bring about dramatic changes in Americans’ attitudes about smoking. Changing attitudes have paved the way for changes in organizations and institutions so that fewer Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke than ever before, and it has led the way to the development of community programs that focus on prevention and smoking cessation.
While not inhaling reduces the direct exposure of tar and nicotine to the lungs, it does not eliminate exposure.
