One-in-five Female Lung Cancer Victims Never Smoked

One-in-five lung cancers in females and almost 1-in-10 in men occur in people who have never smoked, a new study has concluded.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Northern California Cancer Center have concluded that never-smokers get lung cancer more often than thought. Their study, published in the 10 February issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, used multiple collections of data from both the United States and Sweden that, in total, tracked the incidence of lung cancer in more than 1 million people from the ages of 40 to 79.

Women who never smoked ran the same risk of lung cancer as the rates for all women of the same age range for cervical and thyroid cancer. If these statistics are representative of the overall population of the United States, the authors infer that around 8 per cent of lung cancer cases in males and close to 20 per cent of cases in females are among never-smokers.

The authors speculate that factors including environmental and occupational exposures to substances including environmental tobacco smoke, asbestos, chromium, arsenic and radon could explain some of the never-smoked lung cancers. Canadian doctors reported the emergence of more never-smoked lung cancers last year.

There is also conclusive evidence that the risk from smoking is dramatically increased if there are also exposures to some of these industrial substances, so many 'smoking' lung cancers also have an occupational component.

A report from Canada's Labour Environmental Alliance Society (LEAS) last year pointed the finger of suspicion at factors including occupational and environmental exposures to carcinogens such as asbestos and environmental radon.

A TUC-backed report in Hazards magazine in 2005 estimated the workplace contribution to all cancers at between eight and 16 per cent. It identified lung cancer as the most common occupational cancer, with known causes including: Arsenic; beryllium; cadmium; chromium; nickel; solvents, particularly aromatics (benzene and toluene); ionising radiation, including radon exposed uranium, haematite and other metal ore miners; reactive chemicals including BCME, CCME, mustard gas, plus suggestive evidence for sulphuric acids; environmental tobacco smoke; petrochemicals and combustion byproducts, including PAHs; asbestos; silica; wood dust; and some man-made fibres, including ceramic fibres.

Source: Risks

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