Cigarette smoking is the leading risk factor for most patients who develop lung cancer. However, some patients diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked a cigarette. Physicians today are seeing more non-smokers and light smokers with lung cancer. Why do these people get lung cancer?
We understand that exposure to secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer. In fact, even passive exposure to tobacco smoke increases your risk of developing lung cancer. Secondhand smoke is responsible for 3,000 lung cancer-related deaths a year in the United States. There’s a 20 to 30 percent increased risk of developing lung cancer for non-smokers living with a smoker. This is why so many cities have passed laws to limit smoking in restaurants, bars and clubs. Many workplaces are also becoming tobacco-free to protect the health of their employees.
Other environmental exposures besides tobacco smoke have been associated with lung cancer, including chemicals used in some workplaces, such as asbestos, tar and soot, and heavy metals like chromium, nickel and arsenic. There has also been an association with radon gas and lung cancer, especially in people exposed to high radon levels, such as uranium miners. It is still unclear how much of a factor air pollution plays in developing lung cancer.
