Learn how to help reduce your risk of lung disease.

Presented in this group is information about tobacco and radon.

There are good reasons to not use tobacco and to not permit smoking in public places. Additionally, everyone needs to know about radon, which causes over 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States.



Basic facts about smoking include:

"Among male smokers, the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer is 17.2%. Among female smokers, the risk is 11.6%. This risk is significantly lower in non-smokers: 1.3% in men and 1.4% in women" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer, accessed 7-12-07).

"Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent" (http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/tobacco.html, accessed 9-23-07). "[E]very three weeks in the United States, secondhand smoke kills about the same number of nonsmokers as were killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center" (Clete Snell's 2005 book, Peddling Poison: The Tobacco Industry and Kids, Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, p. 1).

About 440,000 tobacco-related deaths occur in the U.S. each year due to lung cancer, oral cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, heart disease, emphysema, stroke, kidney cancer, and other diseases. Twenty percent of lung cancer in nonsmokers is due to secondhand smoke, and secondhand smoke is also a serious cause of medical problems such as heart disease and asthma in nonsmokers.

Nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive. One source reported that 80 percent of people who smoke would like to quit, but only 5 percent were able to quit. Quitting smoking at any age has benefits. Quitting at age 60 adds three years to life on the average. Motivation to stop smoking may increase if smokers receive suggestions, friendly support, and hints. Repeated attempts to quit can eventually result in success. It is worth trying to quit.

If you smoke, stopping smoking will increase the chance that you will have better health. You will save money, and increase your chance of being respected by family, friends, and co-workers for your effort.

Other facts about tobacco are presented in the topics of this group, and there are many illustrations of lungs accessible by clicking on the pictures.

Tobacco use can be be reduced by:
• Stronger tobacco warnings
• Raising the minimum age of purchase of tobacco to 21
• Ensuring prosecution of venders who sell to underage buyers
• Restricting smoking in public places
• Raising tax on tobacco
• Eliminating tobacco advertising in most cases
• Eliminating "public service messages" and research funding from the tobacco industry.



Radon is a naturally occurring element and is present in the environment. Basic information and links about radon are available at
http://www.epa.gov/radon/

Radon information from http://www.epa.gov/radon/healthrisks.html (on 2/25/09) includes:

"Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Smoking causes an estimated 160,000* cancer deaths in the U.S. every year (American Cancer Society, 2004). And the rate among women is rising. On January 11, 1964, Dr. Luther L. Terry, then U.S. Surgeon General, issued the first warning on the link between smoking and lung cancer. Lung cancer now surpasses breast cancer as the number one cause of death among women. A smoker who is also exposed to radon has a much higher risk of lung cancer.

"Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. On January 13, 2005, Dr. Richard H. Carmona, the U.S. Surgeon General, issued a national health advisory on radon. Visit www.cheec.uiowa.edu/misc/radon.html for more on a study by Dr. William Field on radon-related lung cancer in women.

"Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of lung cancer and responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year. Smoking affects non-smokers by exposing them to secondhand smoke. Exposure to secondhand smoke can have serious consequences for children’s health, including asthma attacks, affecting the respiratory tract (bronchitis, pneumonia), and may cause ear infections."



FAIR USE NOTICE: Save Your Lungs website, topics, and bulletins may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

Moderator of Save Your Lungs, Stephen V. Hymowitz