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Lung cancer, or bronchial carcinoma, occurs in several forms. The
most common causes of lung cancer are smoking and asbestos. This
web site has focused on the most lethal of the lung cancers-mesothelioma.
Not every asbestos-related lung cancer, however, is a mesothelioma.
Other thoracic carcinomas, such as adenocarcinoma, are also caused
by exposure to asbestos.
The connection between asbestos exposure and lung cancer was
noted as early as 1925, and confirmed over the next 70 years by
many epidemiologic studies of asbestos-exposed workers. The four
main types of commercially used asbestos, chrysotile, amosite,
anthophyllite, and mixtures containing crocidolite, have all been
associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. About one in
seven people who suffer from asbestosis, a lung disease resulting
from high exposure to asbestos, eventually develop lung cancer.
There is a relationship between cigarette smoking and asbestos
exposure in causing lung cancer, such is that asbestos workers who
smoke face a much higher risk than asbestos workers who do not.
According to the National Cancer Institute, evidence suggests that
asbestos-exposed workers who quit smoking can reduce their risk of
developing lung cancer by 50% within five years of quitting.
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A great deal of attention has been paid to the relationship
between smoking and lung cancer. Indeed, many people automatically
assume that relationship. It is therefore important to understand
that while smoking is certainly a potential cause of lung cancer,
it is not the sole cause of lung cancer in humans. Statistics have
shown that cigarette smoking alone increases the risk of lung
cancer by a factor of 10 or so; heavy asbestos exposure alone
increases the risk of lung cancer by a factor of 5 or so; and the
combination of the two independent carcinogens increases the risk
factor by about 50 times.
Thus, you do not merely add the risks posed by asbestos to the
risks posed by cigarette smoking. The combination of asbestos and
smoking multiplies the risk by an unquantifiable, but
significantly greater, factor. This relationship is what is
referred to as the "synergistic effect" of smoking and
asbestos exposure. In short, one plus one does not equal two-it
equals five or more.
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