Passive smoking exposes you to a 51 percent greater risk of oral cancer than non-smokers or non-smokers. Oral tumors – cancer of the lips, oral cavity and oropharynx – represent 447,751 new cases of cancer and 228,389 deaths each year globally. The propensity to risk is also greater for passive smokers: according to an international research published in the Journal Tobacco Control.
Experts have been sounding the alarm for some time
The conclusion is not insignificant and establishes a precise link, quantifying it, between the so-called secondhand smoke (as the Anglo-Saxons call it) and cancer diseases. In short, even if experts have been sounding the alarm for some time, there are still many who do not fully believe in the funeral name of passive smoking. But after all, for those who grew up in a generation where they took Sunday outings locked in the smoky cockpit of the car while dads (and sometimes mothers too) exposed their offspring to a nicotine overdose it can be hard to believe that second-hand smoke really hurts that bad.
The data of the study
The data is accurate and covers 192 countries. First of all “recycled” smoking concerns 33 percent of male non-smokers, 35 percent of female non-smokers and 40 percent of children in the sample taken as reference. Furthermore, the research is based on the results of five previous studies that involved a sample of 6,977 people, of which 3,452 were exposed to secondhand smoke and 3,525 were not exposed to smoke. The data comes from Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America and the conclusions also look at the exposure period of passive smokers, arguing that for those who smoke for more than ten years, oral cancer risk rates far exceed 51 percent. Finally, international researchers point out that cancer of the lips, oral cavity and oropharynx does not depend only on smoking (whether active or passive), but also on the consumption of smokeless tobacco and alcohol.
The Framework Convention
The research offers an important indication for tobacco control legislation and policies. In particular, the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) is called into question, or the first international treaty for the protection of public health which recognizes the damage caused by tobacco products and the companies that manufacture them. The Framework Convention establishes legally binding objectives and principles that signatories (countries or organizations for economic integration, such as the European Union) are required to respect. And, more and more and thanks also to this latest study, it offers indisputable data to determine the guidelines. Also regarding the secondhand smoke, often underestimated.
April 25, 2021 (change April 25, 2021 | 21:12)
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