非吸烟者的肺癌

Although people may tire of hearing me preach anti-smoking sermons, I rarely tire of warning them about the health dangers of tobacco. 对于那些吸烟的人, quitting remains the most important positive step someone can take to reduce her risk of cancer, 心脏病, and many other smoking-related diseases. Never starting to smoke is the smartest investment a young person may make in her future health. 我也言出必行. My parents reared me in a smoke-free environment. Temptations to smoke never assailed me. 我家是禁烟区. To borrow from the old liquor temperance standard, the lips that touch tobacco shall never touch mine.

And yet, I can still get lung cancer.

而接触烟草, chiefly in the form of cigarette smoking, is by far the greatest risk factor for lung cancer development, about 10 percent of all persons in the US who develop lung cancer have never smoked. 发生了什么事??

The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates around 7000 deaths from lung cancer each year are linked to secondhand smoke exposure. 现在餐馆, 娱乐场所, and workplaces are largely smoke-free environments, this exposure occurs principally in the home. 如果不是为了他们自己, 然后, active smokers should quit for the benefit of others with whom they live.

铀, which we normally associate with nuclear power plants and atomic bombs, occurs naturally in the soil in small concentrations. As a uranium atom decays, it emits radon, which forms a gas at room temperature. 在户外, 氡迅速扩散, 但是在封闭的环境中, 比如有地下室的房子, the gas may concentrate sufficiently to produce radiation damage to cellular DNA when inhaled. This mutation enhancement can lead to cancer development. Every house should have a radon detector.

Air pollution used to be a lung cancer risk factor in Americans. Happily, the air quality in this country improved enormously over the past half-century. In many other countries, however, pollution is a growing problem. Expect to hear of rising lung cancer incidence in those parts of the world.

Industrial and work-place exposures to certain irritants, many of which act in synchrony with tobacco smoking, have in the past contributed greatly to increased lung cancer risk. Most people know about the dangers of asbestos. I’ve already mentioned uranium. 煤矿工人, 沙霸卡, and persons working in the petroleum industries receive exposure to cancer-promoting substances. Improved workplace conditions in America have lowered cancer incidence but the problem is not yet eradicated.

最后, the ACS lists what I must call dumb “luck,” the acquisition through the normal, fallible process of cellular reproduction of unfortunate mutations promoting cancer development. 对此没有任何防范措施. Some次 in an imperfect world the body makes unforced errors. But it helps to minimize the risk factors you can control.

The take-home message from the sermon remains: Don’t smoke and quit immediately if you do. That doesn’t mean the nonsmokers may relax their vigilance.