lung cancer essay

Submitted By XXpeacekeeperXX
Words: 488
Pages: 2

Lung cancer is the common cancer worldwide, with 1.8 million cases and 1.6 million deaths in 2012. It surpassed breast cancer to become the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women in 1987. Deaths due to lung cancer have also increased approximately 3.5% between 1999 and 2012. While the death rate of men have come to a plateau, women’s death rates are still rising. In 2012 alone 86,740 men and 70,759 women had died from lung cancer. Also among 402,326 Americans living today have been diagnosed with lung cancer. The estimated survival rate of lung cancer is only 17.8% and over half of the people diagnosed die within their first year of diagnoses.
Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and has contributed 90% of patient death. The second leading cause is radon, which is a colorless odorless and tasteless gas that is produced by decaying uranium, and accounts for 21,000 yearly deaths. Compared to that of a person who has never smoked before a man in 23 times more susceptible and a women is 13 times more likely to developing lung cancer. Second hand smoke is also a big factor in developing lung cancer, 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year among adult non-smokers in the U.S. by exposure to second hand smoke. All three of theses factors amount for an estimate of 25,000 people per year in the U.S. alone. Something that has been suspected to cause lung cancer is marijuana, but according to Harvard University researchers after testing the chemical in both lab and mouse studies, “the active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread”. Lynne Eldridge MD, and lung cancer expert also stated “In 2006 many of us in medicine were shocked when a review of research to date did not show an increase in lung cancer related to marijuana use. There was even a suggestion that marijuana had a protective