Study links cigarette smoking to skin cancer

June 20, 2012 (WLS) -- Add one more health concern to the list when it comes to smoking.

Heart disease and lung cancer are just some of the side effects that have been blamed on smoking. Now you can put skin cancer on that list.

A new study finds smokers have a 52 percent increase in their risk of squamous cell cancer, one of the most common skins cancers today. It is rarely deadly.

But, that extra risk is said to be similar to that of ultraviolet radiation, according to several new studies in the Archives of Dermatology.

The research did not prove cause-and-effect, but still, researchers believe it's likely that tobacco causes basal cell skin cancer and say it's another good reason to give up smoking.

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