Celebrating World No Tobacco Day 2022

Tobacco use ranks among the world’s leading causes of death. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 8 million deaths per year are attributed to tobacco use, including more than 1.2 million deaths among nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke.

The theme this year is to “Protect the environment” by highlighting that, throughout its lifecycle, tobacco pollutes the planet and damages the health of all people.

More than 7,000 different chemicals are in tobacco and tobacco smoke — more than 70 of them are known to cause cancer. Over 570,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer around the world each year. Smoking is the biggest risk factor of bladder cancer as tobacco contains cancer-causing (carcinogenic) chemicals.

• It is estimated that smoking causes about 50% of all bladder cancers.
• Persons who smoke may be up to 4 times more likely to develop bladder cancer than non-smokers.

Studies have shown a strong association with increased risk of recurrence and disease progression with continued smoking after diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer.

Since tobacco is a leading cause of cancer mortality, a strong implementation of effective tobacco control measures is critical to reducing the global cancer burden.

WHO established World No Tobacco Day celebrated each year on May 31, to raise awareness of the extraordinary health hazards of tobacco use.

More information about World No Tobacco Day here

We invite you to visit our Bladder Cancer information pages to know more about bladder cancer risk factors