To drastically cut down the number of persons suffering from lung cancer and other smoke related diseases, concerted efforts must be made to reduce the number of smokers, a physician and medical oncologist, Dr Peter Harper has said.
Lung cancer, most often occurs in people who smoke. There are two major types of lung cancer, which are non-small cell lung cancer, and small cell lung cancer.
Symptoms of lung cancer include a cough (often with blood), chest pain, and weight loss. These symptoms often do not appear until the cancer is advanced.
It is estimated that no fewer than 2,206,771 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020. In addition, in 2018, about 1,761,000 persons died due to lung cancer.
Speaking during a scientific integrity panel, Dr Harper said with one billion active smokers, the world risks having 80 million cases of lung cancer with 64 million deaths.
Harper who reaffirmed the fact that smoking is a major cause of cancer noted that quitting is by far the best option ‘but quitting is difficult, therefore, new solutions to help people quit’.
One of the panelists who is also the Vice President for Global and Scientific Engagement at Philips Morris International, Gizelle Baker said there is copious scientific data to prove that novel tobacco products have far lower risk and hence, serve as viable options.
“Heated Tobacco Products entered Japan in 2014 and was launched nationally in 2016” Baker said, noting that data from studies conducted showed high acceptability of novel tobacco products among smokers.
For his part, Prof Giovanni Li Volti, director of the Centre of Excellence for Acceleration of Harm Reduction said available data from proven scientific researches indicated that Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) products are less toxic when compared to cigarettes.
The campaign for tobacco harm reduction through the use of alternative products have continued to gain traction just as there is scientific evidence to show that using alternatives like e-cigarettes, vaping and other alternative products reduce the risk to a smoker’s health.
https://leadership.ng/how-to-reduce-lung-cancer-smoke-related-diseases-harper/
