The American Cancer Society on lung cancer

[JDPriestly]

Recently, there have been several posts on DU about smoking and lung cancer.

I posted the following on this topic in response to another post.


Here is what the American Cancer Society says about smoking and cancer (87% of lung cancer is smoking related). Please visit their site. Don't just visit the one page I link to below. There is so much useful information on cancer, a disease you really don't want to get and should avoid if you possibly can. Please do this for your own health and that of those you love.


Health Effects of Smoking

About half of all Americans who continue to smoke will die because of the habit. Each year, a staggering 435,000 people die in the US from tobacco use. Nearly 1 of every 5 deaths is related to smoking. Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined.

Cancer

Cigarette smoking accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of cancers of the lung, larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat), and esophagus, and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon and rectum, and some leukemias.

About 87% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, and is one of the most difficult cancers to treat. It is very hard to detect when it is in the earliest, most treatable stage. Fortunately, lung cancer is largely a preventable disease. Groups that promote nonsmoking as part of their religion, such as Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists, have much lower rates of lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers.

Other Health Problems

But cancers account for only about half of the deaths related to smoking. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, aneurysms, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, and contributes to the severity of pneumonia and asthma.

. . . .

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Cigarette_Smoking.asp?sitearea=PEDIn

I would like to put in my two cents. Substances other than tobacco as well as genetics can cause or contribute to the causation of cancer. It is my understanding that cancer is not necessarily, perhaps not often, maybe never caused by just one substance or exposure. It can be caused by a combination of factors or a series of exposures. Nevertheless, smoking is a risk no one should take.

One DUer pointed to the so-called "benefits" of smoking, such as a purported decrease in the risk of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and relief from mental illness. I believe those "benefits" have yet to be corroborated by critical, long-term studies comparable to those that have established the irrefutable link between the great majority of lung cancer cases and smoking. Even if they are corroborated, however, the risks of smoking are just not worth it. In addition, the active ingredient(s) in tobacco that may purportedly cause the benefits (the existence of which I question), could surely be ingested through some means that does not result in cancer or the many other diseases that have been associated with smoking.

I do not normally speak to my friends who smoke about smoking because I understand that it is a horrible addiction. But in this anonymous forum, I feel free to speak out on this issue. First of all, I care about you, my DU friends, as individuals. Second, you DUers are liberals, and I don't want to see a one of you succomb to tobacco before your time. We need you. We need every last one of you, every last liberal voice. Please, pretty, pretty please with sugar on it, stop smoking if you possibly can. Get help if you need it.

[BamaLefty]

1. I Don't See How Anyone Could Take Up Smoking Today

I mean... it just doesn't make sense.

[JDPriestly]

2. Quitting today does make sense.

Especially for liberals. With every cigarette a smoker buys, he or she is making a small donation to the Republicans. If DUers don't care about their health, they should care about that.

[BamaLefty]

4. Yeah

I've never thought of it that way. Wouldn't it be great PR for "Democrats Refuse To Smoke."??? I think so...

[Dark]

14. Really? Try it sometime. More than likely, if you smoke, you'll be

trying it many times.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

6. I know that and you know that...

but there are those that don't beleive it, or don't want to believe it, crying "personal choice!" all the while they blow smoke in your face.

Rememebr Bob Dole said that smoking was no more harmful than drinking milk back in 1996?

My father smoked for decades. He finally quit in the early 90's, but the stress of his mother and his sister dying put him over the edge, and he started smoking again. Last Thanksgiving, a pre-cancerous growth was found on his throat. After six weeks of radiation treatment, they got rid of it, but he suffered from radiation burns for months afterwards. Then he got bronchitis, and on the 4th of July, his throat started to close up.
Now he has a trach in his throat (temporary, fortunately) but that was very, very scary. And it was all because of the smoking. (He smoked after the treatment, not because he wanted to, but because he was addicted to the nicotine. He even admitted as much to me.)

I was going to post this in another thread where someone compared people opposed to smoking to Nazis :wtf:, but I was nice.

I think it's because Big Tobacco intenntionally targets young Americans. Cigarette companies have long targeted young, impressionable people in America. They try to hook them when they're still teenagers, because they know their product is addictive, and for decades they've been gradually nudging the nicotine amount upwards.

[Dark]

13. It does if you don't have the time for real relaxation.

It does help you to relax, and it only takes a few minutes, as opposed to a bath, or a walk, or reading a book.

It also has been PR'd 'to the extreme.

[etherealtruth]

3. Helpful and productive post

:toast:

[meti57b]

5. be sure to do "recommend topic" so the thread sticks around awhile.

[SnowGoose]

7. It also messes up your immune system.

It's the basis of my whole PhD. A recent report that reviewed the extant body of scientific literature on this topic states:

"Infectious diseases may rival cancer, heart disease, and chronic lung disease as sources of morbidity and mortality from smoking." And, "The morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases due to smoking are not widely appreciated by physicians."

Smokers' risk of a wide variety of infections, from gum disease to herpes, to fatal pneumococcal infection are substantially increased, and that's *after* correcting for education, economic status, etc.

Oh, and by the way, it looks like these immune defects show up in weeks and months, rather than decades, like cancer.

If you want to see the article for yourself, here's the reference (any library should be able to get this for you, if they don't have it already).
Arcavi L, Benowitz NL., Cigarette smoking and infection.
Arch Intern Med. 2004 Nov 8;164(20):2206-16.

[etherealtruth]

11. As a former smoker ...

I'm glad to see a thread providing information and support to smokers. The threads others have alluded to, devolved into personal attacks against smokers. Smoking IS BAD, smokers are NOT BAD people, they are not stupid people ...

Providing info is great, providing support even better ...

Good luck to anyone trying to quit. YOU CAN DO IT!

[skids]

8. It wouldn't be such a huge issue...

...if people didn't smoke so damn much. I cannot really conceive of smoking a whole pack a day. Most of the mortality is at the pack-plus-per-day level, and the average, last time I looked was, two packs a day. I'm sure I'd asphixiate if I smoked that much.

Since I've never smoked anywhere near that much I don't know how hard it would be to ease off. But tobacco opponents sabotage their own objectives by being puritans. You'd get better results by advocating cutting down instead... and a light smoker will have a much easier time quitting.

Oh, and as far as "donating to Republicans" -- what brand you smoke does come into play...

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Kicking for JDP's DU friends, every one of us!

:loveya:

[Hobarticus]

10. No cancer...but my mother's dying of COPD

Imagine slowly suffocating to death, day by day. That's what smoking did for her.

Smoke 'em if you want to, that's your choice, but there's other ways that it'll kill you besides the Big C.

[Fly by night]

12. Posted this on a P. Jennings thread & was told it's a good sig line.

PS: Cigarettes kill and they are more addictive than heroin. If you're reading this now with a cigarette in your hand, you're an addicted dumb-ass with no one to blame but yourself when those coffin nails put you six feet under, years before you have to go. Why give another $3.00 to American tobacco companies, the biggest mass murderers in history? Why indeed?
--------------
PPS: I say this as the expert witness on nicotine addiction in the first federal lawsuit against the tobacco industry (Roysdon vs. R.J. Reynolds) filed in 20 years, back in 1984 in Knoxville, TN. For my troubles, I came home after testifying (I live four hours away from Knoxville) to find a burning car in my driveway (and I live WAY out in the country.)

Cigarette companies are the devil's foot-soldiers, and their executives and their paid lackeys in Congress, state houses, the media and entertainment industries, and the Department of Justice all deserve to die of the cancers they so freely give away as "booby" prizes for their most loyal customers.

Not to mention COPD, heart disease and other diseases of the circulatory system, miscarriages and making perfectly desirable women taste like the inside of a stale ash-tray (all over).

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. A positive note: I don't have numbers handy, but I've read that QUITTING

smoking has strong health benefits - you can't take away ALL of the increased risk, but you can take away a good part of it. So there shouldn't be a sense of "it's too late, there's no point in quitting, the damage is done."

[DemGirl7]

16. Well, If you smoke you have a greater chance of getting other cancers

not just those related to the lungs and heart,even like pancreatic cancer can be related to smoking habits. My Dad used to smoke when he was young, and when he died of pancreatic cancer a year and a half ago, they told my mom that pancreatic cancer could be bought on by smoking habits.