Source: howzzdat.com
It has been mentioned many times.
It has been propagandised.
It is a mantra.
Smoking kills.
Yet, at the end of a quaint little fishing village in Malaysia, free from pollution, an old mak cik, proudly gloats that it is SMOKING that actually prevents her from sickness. Before you start smiling in relief, hold on there a minute. Is that really true? As you know, smoking increases your chances of getting lung cancer. But there have been no research that shows that smoking is protective. Nil, zilch, na-da. In fact, not only lung cancer, smoking and using tobacco increases your chance to a host of other lung diseases. Here are some reasons to why some people have claimed (wrongly) that smoking has been protecting them from illness while others have lung cancer but never held a stick before.
Different people have different threshold.
Have you ever notice how some people thinks that your cooking is a “too” salty while others think that it lacks salt? Different people’s taste buds have different sensitivity towards saltiness. It is the same in explaining the development of cancer cells in our body. Some people may need only three years of smoking for lung cancer to develop, while others developed lung cancer after 50 years of smoking. In other words, in certain people, the lung cells go berserk after exposure to a “pinch of salt” of a cancer causing substance.
Source: phys.org
There is something in the gene.
Genetic is a risk factor that cannot be modified. Once it is coded, it is coded. There are some genes that have shown to increase the risk of getting lung cancer. For example, the RGS17 gene is responsible for lung cancer in 10% of people who are first degree relatives to a lung cancer patient. Fortunately, the genes are like switches that needs to be switched on or off. The switches will remain, but we are in control of our own environment. We can reduce our chance of “accidentally turning on the switch” by not smoking, running away from smokers, removing cancer causing substances from our food and making life changes.
There is something at home.
Nope, we are not talking about ghost. We are also not talking about cigarette smokes that fill the air. We are talking about the lesser known substances that can switch on the cancer genes. Radon gas is a radioactive gas that can cause cancer. It is estimated that radon gas causes 20,000 lung cancer death in the US per year. The bad thing is that Radon cannot be seen, smell or taste. So, you have no idea if you are inhaling some now while reading this article. It comes from uranium that is present in all rocks and soil. Uranium in my house? Serious? Yes, uranium can be present in very minute amount in the building materials of your house. Unless you are staying in a 100% wooden house, it is wise to air your house frequently. With this fact in mind, radon plus smoking is a big no-no. So, do you see now the logic in making public buildings smoke free areas?
There is something in your work place.
Not only we are inundated with the giddy office politics, offices can be causing you your life. For one – the radioactive gas that has been mentioned earlier – Radon gas. Work spaces does not exclude quarries, petrol stations, construction sites or car workshops. In some of these workspaces, you or your family members inhaling asbestos particles, diesel exhaust fumes and dust will increase your chances of getting lung cancer. Surprised? Add your chain smoker friends to the list – and you will have the recipe for disaster.
Source: www.businessweek.com
There is something in the air.
You thought air pollution can only cause flu, a little cough, sore throat and watery eye. Sooner or later it will go away, you say. It is time for you to think that it is much more serious than that. The WHO and IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) have listed air pollution as a lung cancer causing agent. In 2010, nearly 233,000 cases of lung cancer is caused by air pollution alone. Traffic, industrial fumes, agricultural emission, coal burning power stations and open burnings are causes of air pollution. Legislation is in the hand of powers that be. For the rest of us, if you are staying near a pollution source, it’s high time to make that paradigm shift. For workers in those areas, value the usage of your PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Never. Take. Off. Your. PPE. While. Working.
The “third hand smoke”.
You have heard of the evil of the second hand smoke and how children are worst off when exposed to second hand smoke. Fine you say, you will not smoke in front of your children and will make your car porch as your new smoking “port”. Here’s news. The residues that cling on to your clothes, your hands, your hair – all that within the reach of your yearning child – gets transferred to him or her. Their hand gets smeared with the toxic substances and they can, unknowingly, swallow it. No wonder some children have multiple hospital admissions due to asthma in a year, though their father denied smoking. Or mother for that matter. The number of women smokers is increasing in Malaysia. The toxic residues cannot be removed by airing the room. It stays there. General cleaning and keeping the space smoke free will eliminate the risk.
Making sense.
See, though some people brag that they have been smoking all their life and they are still fine, they must really be the 1% of the population at the end of the spectrum who should be counting their blessings. It may not apply to others. It may not apply to you at all. It may not even apply to their sons, daughters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren. For the reasons that have been mentioned earlier, there are multiple causes of lung cancer. Stop smoking and you have removed one of the biggest contributors of lung cancer. Nevertheless, the risk is still there. Reducing the risk is within our hands. As Captain Planet says, “The Power is Yours!”
Dr. Helmy Hazmi is a community medicine specialist with a major in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is currently working in his hometown, Kuching, as a medical lecturer. Find out more in The Team page.
[This article belongs to The Malaysian Medical Gazette. Any republication (online or offline) without written permission from The Malaysian Medical Gazette is prohibited.]
References:
- Samet, J. M., Avila-Tang, E., Boffetta, P., Hannan, L. M., Olivo-Marston, S., Thun, M. J., et al. (2009). Lung cancer in never smokers: clinical epidemiology and environmental risk factors. Clin Cancer Res, 15(18 ), 5626-5645.