43% of cancers due to tobacco use: GCRI

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI) in 2022 recorded 16,329 cases of cancers. Of these, 7,105 or 43.5 per cent, were primarily attributed to tobacco consumption.

Analysis of the cases shows that mouth cancer (43 per cent) was the most prevalent cancer linked to tobacco consumption, followed by tongue (20 per cent), and lung (12 per cent). Over the past few years, this ratio of cancer sites has remained the same. Gujarat is among the states with relatively high prevalence of tobacco-related cancers, experts said.

Dr Shashank Pandya, director of GCRI, said that May 31 is marked as World No-Tobacco Day every year. “This year’s theme, ‘We need food, not tobacco’, highlights the adverse effects of tobacco on the human body. And this is not limited to cancers, tobacco consumption is also found to be linked to heart disease, stroke, asthma and Type 2 diabetes. We must strive to ensure that our near and dear ones don’t use tobacco in any form,” he said.

Several city-based organisations have planned awareness events and health check-up camps on Wednesday to mark the day.