The cancer risks you breathe, chew and drink
This article examines the significant cancer risks associated with lifestyle factors in India, specifically focusing on tobacco, alcohol, and air pollution. It highlights that smokeless tobacco products are a primary driver of oral cancer cases in the country.
Why it matters
Public health awareness regarding non-lifestyle-related environmental and substance-based cancer risks is critical for addressing India's high cancer incidence rates.
Cancer risk is not always due to an unhealthy lifestyle, sometimes it hides in small packets. A packet of gutkha in a shop, a cigarette between two fingers, a drink at the end of a long day, and the grey air hanging over a city street. These may look like completely different things. But there is a common thread running through them: all can expose the body to substances linked to cancer.That matters in India, where more than 14 lakh new cancer cases were estimated in 2022, along with nearly 9.2 lakh cancer deaths, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
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