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The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are continuing the #TobaccoExposed campaign for World No Tobacco Day 2025. This year, the focus is on “Unmasking the appeal”, highlighting the insidious strategies used by the tobacco and nicotine industries to make their harmful products appealing, especially to young people.
Such strategies, including manipulative product designs, attractive flavours, and glamourized marketing, create a false sense of security and evoke desirability. Stricter regulations are needed to break the illusion and remove the appeal of these products. For example, about 16 000 unique flavours are found in nicotine and tobacco products, and they are often cited as the most common reason for initiation of nicotine and tobacco products use. Banning flavours could be an effective way to spare countless people from nicotine addiction.
IARC scientists will also conduct the new collaborative project, Molecular Diary in Infancy and Adulthood to map mechanisms of Lung Cancer upon exposure to various Tobacco forms (DIALCT). Researchers from IARC and partner institutions will explore how cigarette and waterpipe smoking affect DNA by examining biospecimens from three cohorts to identify epigenetic biomarkers, explore evidence, find mechanisms, map health indicators in early and adult life, and predict end of lifetime.
