When Bermuda Cancer and Health Education Officer Rhonda Smith-Simmons talks about the effects of second-hand smoking, she speaks from experience.Both her stepfather and mother were heavy smokers. Through her childhood she struggled with asthma, allergies and ear infections.“When I was young I was a very sickly little girl,” said Mrs Simmons. “I always seemed to have a cold and during the winter months I repeatedly had bronchitis. I wasn’t able to do sports. When I tried to run I was very winded. It wasn’t until I went away to do nursing that I realised there was a major connection between my health and my environment. Interestingly enough, my younger siblings were track stars who came home with blue ribbons, but it affected me. Fast forward 20 years I came home with my new knowledge, and tried to get my mother to stop. I was mad then, but I began to understand how powerful the addiction was.”Unfortunately, her mother died of lung cancer. Her stepfather died from vascular disease. His circulation to his lower limbs that was compromised. He developed ulcers that wouldn’t heal and before he died he had bilateral amputations.Now Mrs Simmons runs a Lung Smart programme in the school system teaching students about the dangers of smoking.Because studies show that children as young as nine and ten are smoking with the average age for starting being 12 or 13, she starts her talks at the Primary Six level.“I share my experiences with every class that I go to,” she said. “I let them know that I am not just here telling you something. This has affected me and my family. This is why I feel so strongly about what I do.”Tomorrow is World Cancer Day, and the world cancer picture would look significantly different without the influence of nicotine cigarettes. Smoking accounts for one fifth of all cancer and is responsible for one in four cancer deaths.With the billions of dollars that tobacco companies have to promote lung pollution, you’d need a special weapon to fight them. Mrs Simmons has a real blackened pig’s lung given to her by the National Drug Council.“The students get it when you show them that,” she said. “I have a set of artificial pink lungs that represent healthy lungs. I can attach those to a bellows system that inflates and deflates the lungs. That simulates what happens naturally. They are fascinated by that. The lungs that have been treated to look like smokers lungs are getting a little fragile so I don’t blow those up anymore. They can put on gloves and I have sanitiser and they actually touch the lungs. I make it very visual and interactive.”At her talks she gives young people some of the facts like, for every cigarette you smoke you lose 11 minutes of your life, and if you smoked one $9 pack of cigarettes every day, you’d have spent around $3,250 in a year on cigarettes.“I know some of the kids will become smokers, but it is my belief that I will have a number of kids who will say no,” she said. “That is why I am passionate about it.”This year World Cancer Day is focusing on the four myths of cancer. One of them is ‘cancer is my fate’. A lot of people who have cancer or see people with it, develop a fatalistic attitude. But Mrs Simmons said that while genetics sometimes plays a role, lifestyle has a significant impact on your chances of developing cancer.“If you want to reduce your chances of developing cancer, don’t smoke,” she said. “Get adequate exercise. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables not treated with pesticides.”Smoking is even thought to affect your chances of developing cervical cancer.“I listened to a lecture by Dr Hilda Dunsmore,” said Mrs Simmons. “She was saying that for some reason, in women who smoke the viscosity of the natural fluid produced at the cervix, becomes much thicker and seems to be an area that attract the HPV virus, a virus that is connected with about 70 percent of cervical cancers. I learned that most people will clear it out of their system within 18 months to two years, but a portion of the population will not clear it. It may be dormant for decades and then resurface.”Another myth is that a diagnosis of cancer is a death sentence. With early detection most cancers can be treated. This year the organisers of World Cancer Day also want the public to know that cancer is not just a disease for the wealthy. Cancer is on the rise in less developed countries also, especially since tobacco companies have turned their sites on countries with poorer health education programmes. People in poorer countries often poorer nutrition which makes them more susceptible to developing illness. They also have less access to early cancer detection programmes such as mammograms or prostate screenings, meaning that often by the time cancer is detected, it is too late. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of pain medication meant for cancer patients goes to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.For more information see www.worldcancerday.org or see www.cancer.bm.