More than half of bladder cancers in the US are the result of smoking, and 90 per cent of smokers with the disease are aware of the connection, according to a new study.

"Bladder cancer is actually the second most common smoking-related cancer, second only to lung," said lead author Dr. Jeffrey C. Bassett of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Anaheim.

Although previous studies had suggested that few people understood the connection between bladder cancer and tobacco, this new study found the opposite, he said.

Why your child is at risk and what to say to him or her. By Dr Shital Raval.

When you think of a smoker, you don’t think of a 10-year-old. But 67% of smokers in India start the tobacco habit between the ages of 9 and 15. According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (2006), more than one third of students aged 13 to 15 years (36.8%) reported initiating tobacco use before the age of 10 (Sinha et al., 2008).

Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital and leading tobacco control advocate on the importance of the fight against tobacco and what more needs to be done. 

1.  Why is the fight against tobacco important?

Dr Prakash C. Gupta, Director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, has researched public health in India extensively over decades and shares with us his valuable opinions on tobacco use and cessation.

Scroll down to sign the pledge

The Age when it all begins