By E Amundsom

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is linked to 11 types of cancer, and numerous health problems. The most common cancers linked to smoking are lung cancer, cancer of the larynx, mouth, pharynx, esophagus and bladder. It has also been linked to cancer of the pancreas, cervix, kidneys, stomach and some types of leukemia. In women, smoking is known to be a risk factor for the development of breast cancer.

Facts About Tobacco

Tobacco has beneficial uses that date back many, many years. Whatever its use, the primary component is, of course, nicotine. As with any beneficial plant, the method of delivery and the use or misuse can lead to problems.

Tobacco actually makes a very good natural insect repellent in the home and garden. Soaking a very small amount in a quart of water overnight releases nicotine in the water, which can then be sprayed on garden plants to kill a variety of pests.

Tobacco can also be mixed with compost and spread under roses to get rid of aphids and other pests.

Have you ever had difficulty getting rid of moles and gophers? Those little varmints can totally destroy your lawn! The good news is - they hate tobacco. Shred a pack of unfiltered cigarettes and drop it down their holes, and see if that doesn't get rid of them.

I swear spiders would take over the world if they had opposable thumbs. Keeping in mind that they can be beneficial, I don't really want them all over my house, and I get tired of clearing cobwebs from around the lights on my porches. There is an organic home remedy, however, that doesn't involve poisoning yourself and the environment while trying to keep the spider population down to a manageable level. Boil a gallon of water with a package of chewing tobacco. Allow it to cool, strain out the tobacco leaves, then use the liquid in a sprayer around your yard, foundation line and any cracks.

Since these remedies do contain a high concentration of nicotine, I would suggest using latex or rubber gloves when working with the compounds.

Native Americans used tobacco in a poultice to treat skin rashes, insect and animal bites and bee and wasp stings. A solution of tobacco soaked in water (and of course, strained before using) can be used to rinse hair to rid if to lice and other insects. In colonial times, tobacco was used as part of a remedy for whooping cough; in the presence of medical treatment for whooping cough, this is not recommended.

The bottom line of all this is - you can see how noxious and harmful tobacco is to the pests around your house and garden. It is not really beneficial when taken internally by humans; its most beneficial use for humans is with external applications.

Cancer and Tobacco

The association of tobacco and cancer is as a result of two misuses of the plant; that is, smoking and extended exposure. Nicotine by itself does not cause cancer; it is the addictive substance in tobacco, but there are other substances in tobacco that cause the harm. If you burn anything and inhale smoke, you're going to cause damage to your body. The danger in tobacco is the addictive quality of nicotine, coupled with the harmful substances and the delivery method via smoking.

Extended exposure is what causes damage to people who utilize smokeless tobacco, such as snuff. It is less lethal than smoking tobacco - but that's not the same as saying it's safe. The amount of nicotine absorbed is usually more than the amount delivered by smoking cigarettes. The primary cancer-causing substance in smokeless tobacco is tobacco-specific nitrosamines. This substance is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals, whether injected or inhaled. In addition, tobacco itself and the juice from tobacco, is absorbed through the lining of the mouth, causing sores and white patches known as leukoplakia, which often lead to cancer of the mouth. People who utilize forms of smokeless tobacco are at greater risk for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach and pancreas.

There is no "safe" way to smoke, ingest or chew tobacco. There is no "safe" way to smoke any substance, including "herbal" cigarettes. Smokers are five times more likely to experience life-threatening health problems as a direct result of their use of tobacco. Making the choice to quit cigarettes and other forms of tobacco is a life-saving choice.

By Andy Kahn

Tobacco is by far the single most important cause of cancer in developed countries. When it is chewed it can cause cancers of the mouth and esophagus and when tobacco is smoked it is a major cause of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, larynx, lung, pancreas, renal pelvis, and bladder. For these eight type of cancers epidemiological evidence indicates that prolonged smoking of average numbers of cigarettes per day increases the risk 3 to 20 times. It is also now clear that cigarette smoking also causes a proportion of several other types of cancer, increasing the incidence up to twice that in non-smokers: namely, cancers of the lip, nose, nasopharynx, stomach, liver, renal and myeloid leukemia. Although the proportional increases are not large, the consistency of the findings in different countries, the evidence of dose response relationships, the lower mortality in ex-smokers than in continuing smokers confirm the relationship between these type of cancers and tobacco.

In sum, smoking is estimated to have caused 30 per cent of all fatal cancers in the United Kingdom in 2005, down from 34 per cent 20 years earlier. The reduction was substantial in men (down from 52 per cent to 40 per cent) but it was largely counteracted by the increase in women (from 12 per cent to 20 per cent). In men, there have been decreases in some developed countries, but increases in others, particularly in central and eastern Europe. In women, the proportion of cancer deaths attributed to smoking was generally low in 1985, but has subsequently increased in all the developed countries and must be expected to increase further.

Tobacco related cancer cases are however lower in countries such as France, where very few middle-aged or elderly women had been smoking for long enough time for any material effect to be produced. In developing countries, the effects of smoking have only recently begun to be studied systematically and much remains unclear. In general, women in developing countries do not smoke or if they do they smoke very little. In men, however, there has been a very large increase in cigarette consumption, the full effects of which is yet to materialize. China, with 20 per cent of the world's population, smokes 30 per cent of the world's cigarettes and by 2000 smoking was already responsible for about 20 per cent of male cancer deaths in China.

In India many men have been smoked 'bidis' (small home-manufactured cigarettes) for decades. There the proportion of occurrence of cancer may be even greater. It is chiefly because in India there is a widespread of habit of chewing quids containing betel and tobacco. Smoking can act as an aggravating factor for the cause of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, or stomach in those who habitually chew such quids containing betel and tobacco. In some parts of South America, the male lung cancer rates from smoking are already as high as in developed countries. Overall, tobacco may be causing about as many cancer deaths in developing as in developed countries. On the whole tobacco would be responsible for about 20 per cent of cancer deaths throughout the world.