> Stay out of old uranium mines. The radon risk was first observed in uranium > miners who smoked. The management agency for Horsethief Cave, Wyoming, used > to keep track of the radon exposure of cavers to whom they'd given permits; > there was a reasonable amount of uranium in some of the fill in the cave. > Don't know whether they're still doing that or not. But the government > worries about anything that will increase your lifetime risk of getting lung > cancer by a few percent relatively, when it's only about 1% anyway if you > haven't smoked a lot. That is, from, say, 1% up to 1.1%. Big deal. Some > show-cave guides might have enough exposure to radon to worry about. Radon is > thought to be the greatest cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, but it's > still a very rare disease in non-smokers. (Contrary to what one might think > from all the propaganda, the chance of even a smoker getting lung cancer > during his lifetime is not more than 10 percent.) -- Mixon
Bill, I don't know where you get your statistics on lung cancer, but they're off base and misleading. According to the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/tobacco/research/cancer/en/): "Lung cancer - the big one" As noted at the outset, the paper describing the association between tobacco use and lung cancer stands as a classic in public health. On average, smokers increase their risk of lung cancer between 5 and 10-fold and in developed countries, smoking is responsible for upwards of 80% of all lung cancers. Using American data, 24% of men who smoke can expect to developing cancer during their expected life time. Lung cancer remains a disease with a dismal prognosis. Although one-year all-stage survival is reported to have increased from 32% in 1973 to 41% in 1994, five-year survival has remained unchanged at 14%. Early detection has been promoted as a potentially valuable intervention but its cost-effectiveness puts it beyond the reach of all but the most wealthy health care systems, and even then, pales in comparison to the cost-effectiveness of comprehensive programs and policies to reduce tobacco consumption. ---------- The 24% statistic quoted above is for all cancers (and there are many more than just lung) associated with tobacco use. According to the National Cancer Institute (statistics for 2005-2007), the lifetime risk (percent) of lung cancer for all races and both sexes for all people (smokers and non-smokers) is 6.95%. For perspective, the rate for all types of cancers is about 41%. (BTW, as you get past the age of about 50, your roughly twice as likely to die of cancer or heart disease than you are to die of Alzheimer's disease). See http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2007/results_single/sect_01_table.14_2pgs.pdf for more details. Also from the National Cancer Institute: "Definition of lung cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages. The two main types are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. These types are diagnosed based on how the cells look under a microscope. ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today.
Estimated new cases and deaths from lung cancer (non-small cell and small cell combined) in the United States in 2010:
New cases: 222,520
Deaths: 157,300 The three leading causes of cancer death for all men, with the exception of Asian/Pacific Islanders, were lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. Lung, liver and colorectal cancers were the top three causes of cancer death in Asian/Pacific Islander men. For women, the three leading causes of cancer death were lung, breast and colorectal cancer for all racial/ethnic groups except Hispanic women, for whom breast cancer ranked first." Get your facts straight the next time you pontificate about something you clearly know little about, such as health issues. Lung cancer is serious and few people who get it survive for long, and the side effects of treatment aren't pretty. And we're not even talking about the other common cancers of smokers such as oral, throat and stomach cancer, which are also extremely common and quite nasty. Diana * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Diana R. Tomchick Associate Professor University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Biochemistry 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214B Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. Email: [email protected] 214-645-6383 (phone) 214-645-6353 (fax)
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