Cigar smoking can be as deadly as smoking cigarettes

  Researchers Report Cigar-Smoking Can Be as Deadly as Smoking Cigarettes

Smoking cigars is not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes, according to a paper by American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers published in the Aug. 9 special tobacco issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In their paper, Frank Baker, Ph.D., vice president for behavioral research and director of the Behavioral Research Center at the ACS, and colleagues report that cigar smoking is known to cause cancers of the lung and upper aerodigestive tract (oral cavity, larynx and esophagus).

According to the researchers:

* The risk of death from cigar smoking approaches that of cigarette smoking as the number of cigars smoked and the amount of cigar smoke inhaled increases.
* Smoking cigars instead of cigarettes does not lower risk of nicotine addiction, and cigar-smoking can lead to nicotine dependence even if the smoke is not inhaled.
* The nicotine in the smoke of a single cigar can vary from about the same as a single cigarette to an amount generated by smoking a pack or more of cigarettes.
* Rates of cigar-smoking are rising among both adults and teen-agers. Between 1993 and 1997, consumption of all types of cigars in the United States increased by 46.4 percent, reversing a steady decline amounting to 66 percent between 1964 and 1993.
* Cigars cause more indoor air pollution than cigarettes ? including about 20 times the carbon monoxide when a large cigar is compared to a cigarette.

"The available scientific knowledge on the health risks of cigar smoking is more than sufficient to conclude that cigar smoking is a cause of cancer and a serious risk to the public health," according to Dr. Baker and colleagues.

"Evidence of the health hazards and an alarming increase in rates of cigar-smoking underscore the pressing need for cigars to be included in a coherent national policy on tobacco use and dependence," the researchers say. "Laws and regulations limiting the marketing of cigarettes and access to cigarettes by minors should be applied to all tobacco products."

Dr. Baker?s group also says there is a need for more research including studies to examine the nature of tobacco addiction from cigar-smoking.

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