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Nearly four out of ten cancer cases on the planet are not a verdict of fate or a genetic lottery, but the result of exposure to factors that humanity is capable of controlling. Eliminating key threats such as tobacco smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and specific infections could dramatically change global mortality statistics.

This encouraging yet alarming conclusion was reached by leading experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), with the study results published in the journal Nature Medicine.

According to analysis conducted by an international team of scientists, including specialists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the WHO, 38% of all new diagnoses made in 2022 are based on preventable causes. In absolute numbers, this is a colossal figure - approximately 7.1 million people who could have remained healthy. The researchers evaluated the impact of 30 different risk factors, and these statistics compel a reconsideration of approaches to prevention.

The undisputed "leader" in this unfortunate ranking remains tobacco. Despite decades of fighting smoking, this harmful habit was the cause of 15% of all new cancer cases worldwide. In second place are infectious agents that provoke cell mutations (10%), and rounding out the top three is alcohol (3%), whose toxicity to the body is often underestimated by society. The list of significant threats also includes the scourge of modern society - obesity and physical inactivity, as well as ultraviolet exposure and occupational hazards such as contact with asbestos.

Nearly half of all preventable cases fell on lung, stomach, and cervical cancers. While lung tumors are predictably linked to smoking and ecology, stomach cancer is often provoked by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. In the case of cervical cancer, the main culprit is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which modern medicine can defeat with effective vaccines.

The analysis also revealed a serious gender gap, which sociologists attribute to behavioral patterns. Among men, the proportion of preventable cancer cases reached 45%, while for women this indicator was 30%. The reason lies in historically established habits: nearly a quarter of cancer cases in men were directly related to tobacco smoking, whereas for women this factor caused the disease in only 11% of cases.

The authors of the scientific work emphasize: the obtained data point to enormous but still unrealized potential for prevention. In their opinion, reducing cancer incidence is a matter of governmental will. Strict anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol policies, mass vaccination against HPV, and active promotion of physical culture could save millions of lives in the coming decade.