Why tobacco control is important

Tobacco use is the number 1 cause of preventable disease and death in Canada and causes 37,000 Canadian deaths each year.

Smoking causes about 30% of cancer deaths in Canada and about 85% of lung cancer deaths.

• More Canadians die from lung cancer than any other cancer

  In 2017, 28,600 Canadians were diagnosed with lung cancer and 21,100 died of the disease.

  The number of lung cancer deaths exceeds the total number of deaths from colorectal cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.  

• Smoking causes many types of cancer

  In addition to lung cancer, smoking can cause many other cancers including:

  • laryngeal
  • oral
  • stomach
  • pancreatic
  • kidney
  • bladder
  • ovarian
  • cervical
  • colorectal
  • pharyngeal
  • esophageal
  • nasal cavity
  • liver 
  • acute myelogenous leukemia
  • ureter
• Smoking starts early

  The overwhelming majority of smokers begin to smoke as teens or pre-teens. In 2015, smoking among youth aged 15–19 years was 10% or about 201,000 teens. Among Canadians over the age of 12, smoking in 2016 was 17% or about 5.2 million Canadians.

• Find out more about tobacco control

  Health Canada – Tobacco

  World Health Organization – Tobacco Free Initiative

  World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control