The Cancer Council WA has launched a confronting anti-smoking campaign after fresh research revealed most people do not know smoking can cause cancer in areas of the body other than the lungs, mouth and throat.
The council’s Terry Slevin said the research – which polled 300 people – revealed 61 per cent of non-smokers could name one or two smoking-related cancers.
But among smokers, this rate fell to 39 per cent.
The council has launched the “16 cancers” campaign, which shows the way people are affected by different cancers, including having to eat through a tube, losing the ability to talk and having to undergo surgery to remove growths in the bowel.
“The campaign we are running is challenging and confronting. We make no apologies for that because the truth is the link between smoking and cancer is challenging and confronting,” Mr Slevin said.
“This is an old-fashioned health education campaign that just tells it like it is.
“We hope that message will come through and be buried deep in the minds of smokers and encourage them to take that next step and have their last fag for good.”
Mr Slevin said smoking rates among adults were about 13 per cent, down from around 40 per cent for men in the 1970s.
In Western Australia this equated to a bit over 200,000 smokers.
He said few people recognised the link smoking had to leukaemia, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer and other serious conditions.
“For a major change like quitting smoking something needs to give,” he said.
“If it causes a little bit of discomfort, to achieve the effect of encouraging people to take that step to quit, then that’s a little push we’re happy to provide.”