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What is more likely to cause lung cancer? Second-hand smoke, or radiation?
My friend’s mother won’t let her come out to visit me in the summer because I live in California and she thinks that the radiation from Japan will cause lung cancer. We’re trying to piece together an argument to prove her wrong. So what is more likely to cause lung cancer? Radiation from 5,478 miles away, or second-hand smoke?
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Tags: California, Cancer, cause, cell lung cancer, Japan, Likely, lung, lung cancer staging, More, radiation, second hand smoke, Secondhand, smoke
11 Responses to “What is more likely to cause lung cancer? Second-hand smoke, or radiation?”
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It depends on the amount and composition of radioactive dust the person inhales.
By summer I’d say the already miniscule risk from the Japanese reactors would be virtually gone. Your friend would be at roughly the same risk of inhaling radionuclides where she lives as she would be in California. At least assuming that there are no more large releases of radioactive dust.
In this case, second hand smoke would be more likely. The radiation from Japan, if any even makes it over,will be a very small amount that would not be capable of producing cancer in most patients. You are exposed to more radiation from an X-Ray at the dentist’s office than with the radiation from Japan. So if she doesn’t feel safe sending her child over to California then she might as well just stop bringing her to the dentist.
OK, first of all, this woman is clearly nuts and has no clue what she’s talking about. There is no radiation in California. There’s not even any radiation more than a short distance from the nuclear plants in Japan. There will not be any radiation in California, no matter what happens. And even if there WERE radiation, it wouldn’t cause lung cancer because that’s not how radiation works in this case. I think your best bet is to try to get her to understand the science involved. Here’s an article that explains:
http://hesomagazine.com/featured/this-is-not-chernobyl-response-to-skewed-media-coverage-of-fukushima-nuclear-plant/
Here’s a more scientific explanation: http://mitnse.com/
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Unless you’re living in the vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear plant, you’re more likely to get lung cancer from smoking, exposure to second hand smoke, or the radon gas in your attic or basement. Long-term exposure to exhaust fumes (like truck and taxi drivers) has also been found to increases one’s risk of lung cancer.
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