The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that tobacco use resulted in 2.4 million cases of cancer in the United States from 1999 to 2004. Tobacco use is the most easily preventable cause of disease and premature death in the country, leaving behind causes such as alcohol use, car crashes, suicide, homicide and illegal drug use, and the most prominent cause of cancer, said the CDC report.

The CDC found though lung and bronchial cancer accounted for nearly half the cases, cancers of the larynx, mouth and pharynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, as well as acute myelogenous leukemia are also caused by tobacco use. Sherri Stewart of the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, who led the study said, "The data in this report provides additional, strong evidence of the serious harm related to tobacco."

The CDC report said tobacco use results in about 438,000 people’s premature death every year including 38,000 people who were secondhand smokers. "Tobacco use causes more deaths each year than alcohol use, car crashes, suicide, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), homicide, and illegal drug use combined," the report said." In addition, smoking accounts for $167 billion annually in health care expenditures and productivity losses."

The CDC found that Kentucky had the highest rate of lung cancer among men and women, and the Western states which had low rates of smoking also had low rates of cancer.

Blacks, non-Hispanic whites and men had a higher rate of tobacco-related cancers reflecting the groups that use tobacco more, the CDC said.

CDC's Dr. Matthew McKenna said, "Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States and the most prominent cause of cancer. The tobacco-use epidemic causes a third of the cancers in America."