Ignorance? Underestimated danger? In France, smokers think it takes an average of 12 cigarettes a day and 16 and a half years of smoking to risk developing cancer.
A THRESHOLD OF DANGEROSITY UNDERESTIMATED!
In 2019, nobody can no longer ignore that tobacco, with its some 7000 chemicals (including 70 proven carcinogens), is a major risk factor for diseases. A survey recently published by Public Health France confirms it: among 4000 respondents, almost all know that smoking promotes cancer, and three quarters of smokers are afraid of having cancer caused by tobacco.
On the other hand, the survey reveals that the latter largely underestimate the danger thresholds. For example, those surveyed indicated that at least 12 cigarettes should be smoked daily to risk cancer, and only 23% believe that there is a risk from a daily cigarette. More than a quarter of smokers even place the bar at 20 cigarettes a day. Thus, the "small" smokers (less than ten cigarettes a day) consider (wrongly) that their consumption is too low to risk developing cancer due to tobacco.
At the question: "After how many years does a person who smokes this number of cigarettes a day have a high risk of getting cancer?Smokers responded on average16 and a half years". It is well established that the risk of developing cancer is very much related to the duration of smoking, even if one smokes little. Smoking one cigarette a day for 10 years thus runs more risk than smoking a pack a day for a year, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Three-quarters of those surveyed also believe that breathing city air is as bad for your health as smoking, and that playing sports helps to clean your lungs. Sport is a protection against many diseases, but it does not eliminate the harmful effect of smoking on the lungs.
As for pollution, it is certainly at the origin of cancer, but much less than tobacco: in 2015 in France, pollution was responsible for less than 1% of cancers, while tobacco was at the origin of 29 % of cancers in men and 9% in women, recalls Public Health France. "People's worries about environmental risks are growing", Analyzes the health agency,"and the spread of this feeling between 2010 and 2015 may reflect a relativisation of behavioral risks in the face of these new, unmanageable risks at the individual level».
Source : Sante.lefigaro.fr/
