Why Does Smoking Cause Lung Cancer?

smoking does not cause lung cancer,
its just geneticcc

no offence but smoking can cause cancer my grandfather smoked his whole life and died of lung cancer so don't tell me it don't =(

That isnt true AT ALLLLLLL!?!?!? Your craZZZYYYY because my cousins parents NEVERERERERER drank or SMOKE and then my cousin started smokin and got addicted!?
Later it turned out she had lung cancer, and her parents never had it or anybody else in our family!?!?!

...really hope you're joking...

smoking does cause lung cancer just read the facts.^

Are you a blonde?

gemma you are very ignorant, all the evidence shows that smokeing does cause lung cancer.
however if you smoke you are not deffinatly going to get lung cancer, by smokeing you increase your risk.

that is true

I'd refrain from calling people ignorant until you get your own facts straight. Smoking doen't "cause" lung cancer. There is a high correlation between smoking and lung cancer (which is different). It is very dangerous and innacurate to start interpreting correlational studies to mean that one thing causes the other.

Smoking is unhealthy and you shouldn't do it. I just have a problem with the fact that people don't seem to understand what a correlational study is and what the results of these studies actually mean.

Gemma you need to sort it out of course smoking causes lung cancer cant you read???

very true... also it is possible that we have classically conditioned our bodies to develop cancerous cells when we smoke. Just like when we see the golden arches for Mcdonald's we think of our favourite meal from there and then can become either hungry or have our mouths water.
It is discussed quite often that we have said it so often that people think it and are conditioned to creating these cancerous cells themselves and this has resulting in the correlations between lung cancer and smoking tobacco.

katherine ....ur absolutely right..these r corelational studies....people get scared for no reason..bt smoking is un healthy for ur body...

smoking doesnt cause lung cancer but increases your chances of it
and your all annoyin me so shut it

I don't mean to sound rude but most of your opinions are unecessary and misinformed. Before you are able to comment on this type of thing you should read all the papers published by research teams such as World Cancer Research Fund. Smoking does have a high correlation with Lung Cancer and other diseases. No studies have proved or disproved the genetic link with lung cancer so although Gemma was wrong about the smoking aspect you cannot undermine her point on genetics, it just hasn't been proved or disproved. Smoking is a stupid thing to do because although smokers may not necessarily develope lung cancer they are increadibly at risk to heart. mouth, throught and some kidney and bladder cancers. In general people READ before you comment, and not just the page you are commenting on.

i am doing a project on lung cancer wow awsome info.

Is there any possibility of some sources being cited on this? I've done quite a bit of searching on The FASEB Journal, and thus far I've found nothing specific to the article you seem to be quoting from. I did find an article (FASEB J.22,910-917) explaining that tobacco smoke and H2O2 both cause the epidermal growth factor receptors to remain activated longer than normal and may contribute to uncontrolled lung cell growth, but while this can lead to many things such as tumors, polyps, or cysts, a direct relationship to cancer is neither established nor disproved.

Interestingly, I found this article doing some research on hydrogen peroxide lung therapy, which is a commonly suggested homeopathic remedy to minor breathing problems experienced after cessation of smoking.

In addition to my original comment, I would like to also point out that there also seem to be some pretty far off misquotes from the World Health Organization Smoking Statistics from 2002 in here as well.

The term "diseases caused by tobacco" indicates that the specific instance of the disease was cause specifically by tobacco, the WHO document uses the broader term "tobacco-related diseases" which indicates diseases which have been studied as related to tobacco.

"Still, one third of the adults worldwide smoke." should be "Still, one third of the adult males worldwide smoke."

"The tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 molecules, but only 43 are known to cause cancer." This depends on who you listen to, but specifically, tobacco smoke can contain over 4,000 chemicals, of which more than 200 could be toxic, and more than 40 could be carcinogens. Only 4 of the carcinogens are specific to tobacco: N-nitrosonornicotine, 4-methyl-N-nitrosamino-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone, N-nitrosoanatabine, and N-nitrosoanabasine. Many of the others are found in products that we come in contact with or ingest every day, such as Benzene (smoking only accounts for half of human exposure to Benzene, Benzene is also contained in the Styrofoam cups we often drink from), Pesticides (used on the tobacco, which also can be used on our food), Formaldehyde (also found in building materials, household products, pressed wood products, glues, adhesives, and disinfectants), Hydrogen Cyanide (also found in fruits and vegetables, and also used in moderation as a medicine), and many others that I could name.

The only study that I can find in The FASEB Journal (The FASEB Journal. 2008;22:910-917) in any way relating to the study you've cited only stated that both inhaled hydrogen peroxide and inhaled cigarette smoke could contribute to uncontrolled lung cell growth. Uncontrolled cellular growth can cause a tumor or other type of unnatural growth, but does not inherently become cancerous, this could either be malignant or benign.

The statement "Cells exposed to cigarette smoke or hydrogen peroxide had the same molecular pathways of cancer, while the non-exposed cells did not." is simply false. Cancerous cells are genetically different than non-cancerous cells. The cells produced by the prolonged activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor may or may not become tumors, and the cells within those possible tumors may or may not be cancerous, but the originally exposed cells are not genetically altered, they simply remain active longer than normal.

After reading this, you may think I'm pro-tobacco, or something similar; I'm not. I'm a second-time quitter after having smoked the better part of the last 15 years, up to two packs daily. I'm very much against tobacco companies, as their products are addictive, and (whether cancer-causing or not) are definitely harmful to the human body. However, I'm also against false or misleading information meant to scare people into responding in a drastic manner, as these tactics are rarely productive, and ultimately lead to mass confusion on the topic and prevent people from discovering the real truth about things that COULD seriously harm them. For this reason I also seriously dislike and disapprove of the statistics used by the WHO (as cited above) because only the "shocking" statistics are used, and the numbers are most often twisted into something far worse than reality. An example of this, from the WHO 2002 Smoking Statistics, "Between 80,000 and 100,000 children worldwide start smoking every day - roughly half of whom live in Asia." What's missing here is that the population of Asia is approximately 57% of the population of the world, meaning that realistically a lower percentage of Asian children likely start smoking every day than do children in the rest of the world.

Ultimately, smoking can be addictive and expensive and should be avoided. Lies and misleading information can also be addictive and expensive and should be avoided. Thanks for your time, and feel free to blast me to dirt with your comments.

get your facts right
it causes lung cancer

i think that people who choose to smoke can no one can stop them but they are putting there lives at risk for putting all the harmful chemicals in to there body so when i see people that die on the news about smoking i do not care because they choose to do it no one made them

smoking is good for you god bless you he loves you dont smoke at all i was joking about the the smoking is not good for you

Hahahahaha!!! I love the comical relief!

i like turtles.

thanks