Both smoking and asbestos exposure can cause lung cancer. The relationship between smoking and lung cancer is long established and widely known; according to the American Cancer Society about 87% of all lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. In the case of asbestos exposure, the most common form of malignancy is mesothelioma – a form of cancer that develops in the outer lining of the lungs or in the lining of the abdominal cavity. Lung cancer can be caused by asbestos exposure alone, but that is a less common occurrence than the development of mesothelioma for non-smoking asbestos disease victims. The incidence of lung cancer among people who have been exposed to asbestos and are also smokers is another matter, as there is a clearly established synergistic effect between cigarette smoke and asbestos exposure.
Approximately 222,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2010. It is the most common form of the disease in this country, followed by breast cancer and prostate cancer. The correlation between cigarette smoking and cancer has been established by countless studies, dating back to the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking issued in 1965. Since then studies have shown that smoking is related not only to lung cancer but also to esophageal cancer as well as cancer of the mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, stomach and cervix. Cigarette smoking also raises the risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke. It is related to over 400,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year.
Effects of Asbestos and Smoking
Smoking greatly heightens the risk of lung cancer, and the combination of asbestos exposure and smoking increases the risk further. The term “asbestos exposure” means that a person has inhaled or ingested microscopic asbestos fibers that will most commonly lodge in the lungs or in the outer lining of the lungs. Those fibers remain embedded for years and eventually may cause malignant mesothelioma or asbestosis. When a smoker has also been exposed to asbestos, the risk of incurring lung cancer is increased by 50 to 84 times. Smoking weakens the ability of the lungs to shed asbestos fibers by weakening the lung tissue and by causing a higher production of mucus than is normal.
By comparison, men who smoke are 23 times more likely to get lung cancer than men who do not smoke. Women who smoke are thirteen times more likely to develop the disease than their non-smoking counterparts. The variation in statistics makes the effects of smoking and asbestos clear. People who have engaged in one and suffered the other are more likely to develop lung cancer. They are also at higher risk for asbestosis, a disease that can be non-lethal but that is progressive in nature and leads to steadily reduced breathing capacity.
Sources:
- http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/LungCancer-Non-SmallCell/DetailedGuide/non-small-cell-lung-cancer-risk-factors, American Cancer Society
- http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/commoncancers, National Cancer Institute
- http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation, National Cancer Institute
- http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/site-kit/docs/CigarettesAsbestos2.pdf, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
