Smoking?Lung Cancer isn?t the Only Problem

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization warns that lung cancer isn?t the only type of cancer caused by smoking and passive smoke inhalation. Cancers of the stomach, liver, cervix and kidney and myeloid leukemia are also linked to smoking. They found no evidence of a link between smoking and breast, endometrial or prostate cancers.

The reviewed more than 3,000 research papers on tobacco smoking and cancer, both active and passive, in order to come to this conclusion. “This is the first time a global organization is saying second-hand smoking is harmful to humans,” says Jonathan Samet of IARC. So don?t sit in too many smoky rooms and don?t listen to anyone who tells you that secondhand smoke isn?t dangerous.

David Phillips, a researcher at the Institute of Cancer Research, says, “These conclusions now have the full weight of a complete review by a large number of experts in the field. They reinforce the view that smoking has been one of the public health disasters of the twentieth century.”

What should you do if you just can?t quit? Take aspirin. A new research study shows that regular use of aspirin more than halves the risk of lung cancer in women who smoke.The 12-year study of 889 smoking and non-smoking women showed that those who took aspirin three times a week for six months or more were a third less likely to develop lung cancer. Smoking is still serious, however?81 of the study participants died during the study.

Aspirin is especially effective in preventing non-small cell lung cancer, which is the biggest killer. “We believe aspirin has an anti-inflammatory effect on the component present in tobacco smoke that causes inflammation and lung cancer,” says Paolo Toniolo, of the New York University School of Medicine. ??The results are quite extraordinary and suggest that aspirin should be prescribed as a cancer prevention method for former smokers who retain chronic inflammation of the lungs for decades after stopping smoking.?

Dr. Arslan Akhmedkhanov, of the NYU School of Medicine, says, “Not smoking is by far the best way to avoid lung cancer, but our study suggests that regular aspirin use could also confer some degree of protection against the disease.”

If you?re determined to smoke, maybe you?d better check into the ?Afterlife Experiments? by Gary Schwartz, who was one of our most popular Dreamland guests, click here.

To read about smoking and cancer, click here.

To learn more about aspirin and smoking,click here.

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