Normal lung (left) and one with cancer (right)

Before the widespread use of cigarettes, lung cancer was a rare disease. In 1912, only 374 cases of lung cancer were reported in the world literature. (CDC, 1999)  In New Zealand in 1926 there were 9 deaths from lung cancer which rose to 286 by 1955 and 303 by 1956. (Te Ao Hou, 1958)  In the year 2000, an estimated 1.42 million cancer deaths in the world, 21% of total global cancer deaths, were caused by smoking.  Lung cancer accounted for 60% of smoking-attributable cancer mortality, followed by cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (20%). Based on available data, more than one in every 5 cancer deaths in the world in the year 2000 were caused by smoking, making it possibly the single largest preventable cause of cancer mortality (Ezzati, 2005). 

 

In New Zealand one in four cancer deaths are tobacco-related (Ministry of Health, 2003).   Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both Maori and Non-Maori (Ministry of Health 2004a) with lung cancer the most common site for cancer registration for Maori males and the second most common for Maori females.  The Maori female registration rate for lung cancer in 2000 was more than three times that of non-Maori females (Ministry of Health 2004b).  

 

In addition to cancer, tobacco is associated with many other health effects.