North East programme responds to new cancers caused by smoking data

The analysis from Cancer Research UK has revealed that smoking causes an estimated 160 cases of cancer every day in the UK.

Although smoking rates in the UK are going down, there are still around 6.4million smokers in the UK and this is the first time that Cancer Research UK has included breast cancer as a cancer type caused by smoking in this kind of analysis.

The scientific research for this link has been growing for years and the charity says it is now confident in the evidence showing that smoking causes around 2,200 cases of breast cancer every year in the UK.

Lung cancer still has the strongest link to smoking and other types include liver, throat and kidney cancers.

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, said: “Smoking is devastating to our health and our wealth, and it has no place in the future of our children.

“It is alarming but not surprising to see cancers rising from smoking – it can take decades for mutations and cancers to develop and the harm to come through onto hospital wards.

“Tobacco is a toxic product which kills two in three long-term smokers – no wonder more than seven out of 10 people in our region support raising the age of sale. This is a chance for the government to look after the health and the lives of the nation by making a smokefree generation a priority.”