Live Smoke Free

• Tobacco use is the most significant risk factor for cancer, and is responsible for approximately 22% of worldwide cancer-related deaths.
• An estimated 30% of all cancer deaths in Canada are caused by smoking.
• A 2015 survey revealed 19% of Manitobans smoked.
• Twelve per cent of Manitoba students in grades 7 to 12 smoked, according to surveys between 2012-14.
• Smoking rates are higher among on-reserve First Nations and Inuit people. Of those First Nations adults living on reserves, 57% smoke commercial tobacco daily or occasionally. In the Inuit adult population, 61% use tobacco daily or occasionally. (Note: traditional tobacco used in ceremonies is different than commercial tobacco.)

• Smoking increases the risk of 18 different types of cancer. The link between smoking and lung cancer is the strongest, with 85% of lung cancer cases in Canada caused by smoking.
• Smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, which is associated with the heart or blood vessels. It causes one of every three deaths from cardiovascular disease.
• Smoking causes an estimated 80% of deaths involving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which relates to the lungs.
• A smoker’s life expectancy is reduced by more than 10 years compared to non-smokers.
• Smoking can decrease fertility, and increase the risk of pregnancy complications. Some studies have found a link between smoking during pregnancy and tissue damage in the unborn baby, and between smoking and miscarriage.

While the most common form of tobacco is cigarettes, smoking cigars/cigarillos or using pipes, hookah and smokeless (non-combustible) tobacco such as chewing tobacco, snuff and snus also causes cancer.

Here are some facts about the different methods of tobacco use:

• Smokeless forms of tobacco may contain more than 3,000 chemicals, including 28 carcinogens (chemicals that cause cancer).
• Although smokeless tobacco isn’t associated with lung cancer, it does increase the risk of oral cancers (lip, tongue and cheek, floor and roof of the mouth), esophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
• Smoking cigars causes cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, lung, esophagus and pancreas.
• Smoking pipe tobacco causes cancers such as oral, throat, esophageal, laryngeal, lung and colorectal.
• Smoking tobacco with a water pipe known as a hookah or shisha is linked with increased risk of cancers such as oral, lung, stomach and esophagus. Smokers may actually absorb even more toxic substances because of the way a hookah is used.
• A small cigarette called a bidi, usually flavoured and imported from southern and southeast Asia, has more nicotine than regular cigarettes. Smoking these is linked with an increased risk of developing oral, lung, stomach and esophageal cancer.

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes or vapes, are devices that use liquid “juice” – with or without flavours and nicotine – to produce a vapour rather than smoke.

E-cigarettes haven’t been approved as a smoking-cessation method and the risks and benefits of their use aren’t known because of a lack of long-term studies conducted by non-industry researchers. There is evidence of potentially hazardous chemicals and particles of metals in the liquid.

Many provinces regulate the sale of e-cigarettes and where vaping can take place in public places.

The Canadian government tabled a bill in November 2016 that would regulate the manufacturing, sale, labelling and promotion of e-cigarettes and vaping products under the Tobacco Act.

Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke is a known cause of several cancers and other health problems such as heart disease and stroke.

Third-hand smoke consists of residual nicotine and chemicals found on surfaces long after exposure to tobacco smoke, and is resistant to normal cleaning. Exposure to third-hand smoke may increase the risk of tobacco-related health problems, but the extent of its dangers is unknown because it’s a relatively new area of research.

While marijuana usually doesn’t contain tobacco, the smoke from marijuana does have many of the same carcinogens as tobacco smoke.

Though there is limited research linking smoking marijuana to cancer and other health risks, some studies suggest that long-term marijuana use increases the risk of cancer, particularly lung, head and neck.