Busting 8 Common Myths About Smoking and Cancer

Most people are aware that smoking is the leading risk factor for lung cancer. But numerous myths continue to cloud the truth when it comes to smoking and cancer.

In this article, we help clear the air by taking a look at eight common myths that aren’t just false — they’re harmful to your health.

But first, an undeniable fact: Quitting smoking is always a good idea.

Myth 1: Lung cancer is the only cigarette-related disease.

It’s true that smoking is responsible for nearly 90 percent of lung cancer cases. But smoking also increases the risk for more than a dozen different cancers, including:

Other quick facts:

In the United States, smoking causes around 20 percent of all cancers and 30 percent of all cancer deaths.
Cancer patients and survivors who smoke have a higher likelihood of developing a second primary cancer.

Beyond cancer, smoking can cause or worsen other diseases and health conditions, including:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Heart disease
Stroke
Asthma
Female reproductive health issues
Premature and/or low-birth weight pregnancies
Type 2 diabetes
Eye damage such as blindness, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration
Gum disease and tooth loss

The bottom line: Smoking hurts your health — damaging essentially every organ in your body — and is the number one preventable risk factor for death and disease in the United States.

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer and are interested in getting a second opinion of your diagnosis or treatment options, call us or chat online with a member of our team.

Myth 2: Secondhand smoke isn’t that bad.

Unfortunately, this secondhand smoke myth is alive and well.

In reality, secondhand smoke, or the smoke given off by a burning cigarette, contributes to over 40,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year. It’s a risk factor for lung cancer because the smoke exposes the nonsmoker to the same cancer-causing chemicals as the smoker. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work have a 20 percent to 30 percent greater risk of lung cancer compared to those who haven’t been exposed.

So, if you’re around someone who’s smoking and they tell you it’s not harmful to you, don’t believe them. Not only have they fallen for the secondhand smoke myth, they’re robbing you of your choice to breathe healthy air.

Even more sobering, the more you’re exposed to secondhand smoke, the greater your lung cancer risk becomes. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, “Even brief secondhand smoke exposure may damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.”

A 2018 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health “confirmed that exposure to secondhand smoking significantly increases the risk of overall cancer for never smokers. In particular, secondhand smoking significantly increases the risk of breast and lung cancer and cancers in women.” The researchers estimated that secondhand smoking increased the risk of breast cancer by 24 percent and lung cancer by 25 percent in the patients studied.

Myth 3: Smoking just a few cigarettes a day isn’t harmful.

Yes, the more you smoke, the greater your lung cancer risk. But even just a few cigarettes a month may be harmful, and any amount of smoking can raise your risks for cancer.

A study published in JAMA Network Open, an open-access medical journal of the American Medical Association, found that smoking six to 10 cigarettes a month — fewer than one a day — elevates the risk of cancer. It said occasional smokers have almost four times the likelihood of dying from a smoking-related cancer than nonsmokers.

“In this nationally representative study, both daily and nondaily smokers had substantially higher mortality risks than never smoking,” the authors of the study wrote.

If you want to decrease your cancer risk, quitting smoking altogether, instead of just cutting back on cigarettes, should be your goal.

Myth 4: Cigars are safe because you don’t inhale.

If you think cigars are safer than cigarettes, think again.

Here’s why:

Cigar smoke contains many of the same cancer-causing chemicals as cigarette smoke, but often in higher concentrations.
Even if you don’t inhale while cigar smoking, your mouth, throat and lips are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. Same with your esophagus when you swallow saliva that contains the chemicals.
Routinely smoking cigars can increase the risk of cancers of the esophagus, larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat) and oral cavity (lip, tongue, mouth).

Typically, cigar smokers have lower rates of lung cancer compared to cigarette smokers, but they have a higher risk than nonsmokers.

“Avoiding all smoking, whether it’s marijuana or tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars, pipes and e-cigarettes, is key to preventing lung cancer,” says Jeffrey Metts, MD, MPH, Chief of Outpatient Medicine at City of Hope^® Cancer Center Atlanta. “No amount of smoking is safe.”

Myth 5: Smoking one cigarette is fine.

People often assume that because they don’t smoke “that much” or “most of their cigarettes burn out,” they’re safe from cancer risk. In reality, even if you smoke one to four cigarettes a day, you’re still at an increased risk of lung cancer death. And while smoking a single cigarette isn’t likely to lead to cancer, it introduces a variety of dangerous chemicals into the body, which can increase inflammation and cancer risks.

“Each cigarette you smoke hurts your lungs, your blood vessels and cells throughout your body,” the CDC says, advising that “cutting back is not enough to protect you. You have to quit entirely.”

A 2019 Columbia University study found that people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day may still cause long-term damage to their lungs. “It turns out that the difference in loss of lung function between someone who smokes five cigarettes a day versus two packs a day is relatively small,” the authors said.

Myth 6: Light cigarettes are safer.

So-called “light” and “low-tar” cigarettes pose the same health risks as conventional cigarettes, despite marketing efforts promoting them as a safer option. That’s why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the use of these terms for any cigarette product.

In fact, smokers who use these products tend to smoke more to get their nicotine fix. And they usually inhale deeper, taking in more harmful substances such as tar and carbon monoxide.

The research is clear, and so is the message from institutions like the CDC: “No cigarette is safe. Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals.”

“The idea that light cigarettes are safe is not only false, it’s misleading and downright dangerous,” says Dr. Metts. “The only surefire way to decrease the risk to your health, and to others, is to stop smoking completely.”

Myth 7: Hand-rolled cigarettes are safe.

Hand-rolled cigarettes, sometimes called roll-ups or rollies, are far from safe. They may be cheaper than ordinary cigarettes, but the levels of nicotine and tar are actually higher in hand-rolled cigarettes. Couple that with the fact that many people who smoke roll-ups don’t use a filter, and it’s a recipe for health risk.

In fact, if you’ve only smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, you may have a greater risk of cancers of the larynx, mouth, pharynx and esophagus compared to those who smoke machine-made cigarettes.

Myth 8: Vaping is a healthier alternative to cigarettes.

Many people believe that vaping, or the use of e-cigarettes, is a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes — even a way to kick a smoking habit. That’s false.

Vaping isn’t safe.

Why? The danger lies in the heated ingredients that may include a mix of potentially harmful chemicals. And although e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, many include nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical compound that comes from tobacco. Nicotine can change the way the brain works and cause physical and psychological dependence.

Another risk: There are no testing requirements, which means there’s no way to know how safe products are and what chemicals may be lurking inside.

Researchers continue to study the long-term health risks of e-cigarettes, also known as e-cigs, vapes, vape pens, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS), e-hookahs, mods, vaporizers, tank systems and other names. What is known, however, is enough cause for concern. The aerosols (vapor) created by e-cigarettes and vape products may contain harmful chemicals, such as diacetyl, formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds — the same cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

Vaping is not healthy. A quick look at this short list of health issues associated with e-cigarettes proves the point:

Nicotine addiction
Lung and heart problems
E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI)
Damage to teeth and other oral tissues