Chronic tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of 18 cancer types, heart and pulmonary disease, and premature death in the U.S.
In observance of National Lung Cancer Awareness month this November, Masonic Cancer Center researcher Dr. Dana Carroll can speak to how reducing nicotine content in all cigarettes sold in the U.S. can lead to meaningful health benefits by making it easier for people to quit smoking and preventing young people from becoming addicted to smoking.
Dana Carroll
“Lung cancer — most often caused by smoking — continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S. Our recent research suggests that a national policy to reduce nicotine content in all cigarettes would not only save millions of lives across the country but could also be a major step toward closing health gaps. This policy is expected to have an especially strong benefit for communities that have been most harmed by smoking — including rural communities, Native American communities, and Black and African American communities. People in these groups are likely to gain more years of life and avoid more smoking-related deaths than you would expect based on their share of the total U.S. population."
“This policy, proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to curb the nearly half-million deaths caused by smoking each year, is the outcome of over a decade of research led by University of Minnesota researchers including Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami and her team.”
Dana Carroll is an associate professor in the Medical School on the Twin Cities campus and director of tobacco research programs for the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. She is an epidemiologist and a certified tobacco treatment specialist, and her research focuses on identifying and evaluating smoking cessation strategies with a focus on American Indian and rural populations.
Contact
Dana Carroll, [email protected]
About the Masonic Cancer Center
The Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, is the Twin Cities’ only Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated ‘Outstanding’ by the National Cancer Institute. As Minnesota’s Cancer Center, we have served the entire state for more than 30 years. Our researchers, educators, and care providers work to discover the causes, prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer and cancer-related diseases as well as provide whole-of-life care and resources for survivorship. Learn more at cancer.umn.edu.
About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. Learn more at med.umn.edu.
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