Health risks of cigar smoking documented at American Cancer Society state-of-the-science conference

American Cancer Society
Wednesday, 15 July 1998

Washington 1998/07/15 -The available scientific knowledge on the health risks of cigar smoking is more than sufficient to conclude that cigar smoking causes cancer and is a serious risk to public health, according to findings from a recent American Cancer Society conference on cigar smoking. Experts on the medical and behavioral aspects of cigar smoking at the conference recommended that laws and regulations limiting access to cigarettes by children and adolescents be applied to cigars and all other tobacco products. The gathered experts also agreed the glamorization of cigar smoking by the celebrities appears to be contributing to rising cigar use among teens. The conference was held June 15-16 in Washington, DC.

Among the findings to emerge from the conference:

- Cigar smoke causes cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus and lung.

- Tobacco is tobacco is tobacco! Cigar smoking can lead to nicotine addition. Cigar smoking is NOT a safe substitute for cigarette smoking. Inhaling cigar smoke is not required for someone to become addicted to nicotine; oral membranes directly absorb the nicotine in cigars whether the cigar is smoked or just held in the mouth.

- A growing number of adolescents is smoking cigars, which makes cigar smoking not only an adult problem. As many as 30 percent of adolescents report smoking a cigar in the last 30 days -- 37 percent of teenage males, 16 percent of teenage females.

- The environmental tobacco smoke produced by cigars is a major source of indoor air pollution and poses a hazard for people who work in establishments where cigar smoking is encouraged, such as cigar bars and other special cigar events.

- Current practices used to market cigars parallel strategies used in the past to market smokeless tobacco, "low-yield" cigarettes and other tobacco products.

- The growing acceptance of cigars may have the additional dangerous impact of reopening the door to the use of other tobacco products.

Based on this evidence, the American Cancer Society is recommending concerted action by health professionals, government and the public health community to discourage cigar smoking and to better control advertising and promotion which appeals to children. A complete report on the conference will be published this fall.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org