Ten to Fifteen Percent of Lung Cancer Sufferers Never Smoked

People who live in areas with high levels of radon are at risk of lung cancer. Modern houses are built with radon barriers, at least where I live in Ireland, and older ones used to be draughty, which allowed radon gas to escape, but now with increased airtightness, radon levels can build up. In Ireland you can get levels of radon in your house tested and remedial work done if needed.

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/air-pollution-radon-gas-and-cancer/can-radon-gas-cause-cancer

BlueBelle

Monica I disagree I had my first baby in 1967 and had no idea that smoking was dangerous it was only after reading an article on small babies born to smokers ( and she was small) that I stopped and learned a lot more …eventually working in the NHS where one of my jobs was as a smoking cessation advisor
😀

You may not have known Bluebelle, but it is clear you did not know in 1950 either when the first 'official ' report was made.

I was talking about the general, not the particular. It was well known, certainly in medical circles, in the 1920s and 30s that there was a link between smoking and lung cancer. But as others have said the tobacco industry tried to cover this link up and stop people knowing about it.

What I think is so wicked is the fact that the tobacco companies deliberately played down the effects of passive smoking. Which meant in workplaces, pubs, restaurants, theatres, public transport, homes and even aeroplanes people smoked freely and without restraint.

A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to curtail smokers' rights to smoke almost wherever they liked, non-smokers did not seem to have the right to object.

The tobacco industry are not alone. The pharmaceutical companies did it over thalidomide and more recently over Fentanyl, and other drugs.

The food industry is constantly trying to stop government controlling how much sugar and fat it puts in products plus reducing much of the food in the shops to denatured food stuffs whose only purpose is to produce products where each one is like every other one, regardless of what it does to people's health.

Mesothelioma, caused by asbestos, is a very specific type of cancer. It is not lung cancer.

You are correct Allira.

What is commonly known as lung cancer is cancer of the bronchus not strictly speaking the lung.

Indigo8

What is commonly known as lung cancer is cancer of the bronchus not strictly speaking the lung.

There are many different types of lung cancer.

I deliberately said "What is commonly known" to exclude the fact that lung cancer is a catch all term for cancers of the lower respiratory tract.

My identical twin brothers recently died of lung cancer.
They were six years younger than me.
One twin had been a smoker and already suffered from COPD. He lived only three weeks after diagnosis.
His brother, a non smoker was the first to be diagnosed. He appeared to be an extremely fit man. A mountaineer, scuba diver, fell walker. He lived in rural North Yorkshire.
Following diagnosis, with treatment he lived for two years, looking extremely healthy until his last few months.

Condolences Aldom how sad to lose both to the same awful disease.

If I may ask, did your brother who had treatment, have chemotherapy?

My SiL's parents smoked but she never did. Developed throat cancer 20 years ago. Had surgery and recovered. Surgeon involved said it was probably due to passive smoking. Before the indoor smoking in public places ban we were all exposed to the fumes. I think smoking at doorways, beer gardens should also be banned, the smell is awful and sticks to you when passing by.

Both I'm afraid. Dishonest and manipulated peer reviewed 'research' by the tobacco companies, and successive governments who were happy to go along with it for the revenue.
Old episodes of Yes, Minister are still totally relevant today.

I was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer in November 2024. On January 21st I had an operation to remove part of my lung and am recovering well at home. As it was discovered very early and was very small, the consultant says that should be the end of it. I can honestly say my experience with the NHS has been amazing.
I’m a non smoker but was married to a heavy smoker. In the bay on the ward , all 4 of us were non smokers. One lady had just been diagnosed with mesothelioma but had no idea where/ how she had picked this up.

I do wonder how many cancers are caused by all the myriad room/body sprays we keep seeing advertised, especially those anti bacterial ones!

Mibsy

I do wonder how many cancers are caused by all the myriad room/body sprays we keep seeing advertised, especially those anti bacterial ones!

As far as i know there is no eveidence to suugests this happens. If it were so I would expect the link to have been made by now. These room sprays and their like have been around for over 50 years.

Well I hail from the Non Smoking Group, however, Mum and Dad smoked like chimneys in my presence, until I left home the age of 18. I am now in my 80th year and have had a cough for 10 years, it is caused by something rather unpleasantly named slow nasal drip. This causes congestion and hence natures way , I then cough. Some days are worse than others. So not all coughs are Cancer. I have had CT Scan , a Colonography Scan , and an MRI scan.

If only we could all go back and know then what we now know.

Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. Other factors such as having had a previous lung disease, family history and old age put you at risk. If I do die of lung cancer it will be old age that did it, as I don't smoke, been around people who do, had a previous lung disease or have a family history.

We had a friend who died from lung cancer that was also caused by asbestos. He never smoked, he was a keen football player so fairly fit. He worked in the ship yards and used to come home covered in blue asbestos. We used to kid him on that he was taking being a Glasgow rangers fan a bit too far.

Retread

Condolences Aldom how sad to lose both to the same awful disease.

If I may ask, did your brother who had treatment, have chemotherapy?

Thank you Retread.

My brother had immunotherapy.

The other twin died before any
treatment could be started.

Dad sadly died of lung cancer in his early 80s. He was active and never smoked.

He had a cough for over a 6 months and the doctor tried him on all sorts of treatments, eh asthma inhakers, antibiotics, steroids, antihistamines, etc.

In the UK I know that a person of his age would have had a chest x-ray after at least a month of coughing. I asked mum (living in South Africa) if dad had a chest x-ray done He hadn't.

I insisted she took dad to their doctor and reqest a chest x-ray. The doctor reluctantly did a referral. There was a shadow seen. But nothing was done nor further investigation suggested.

I told mum to take dad back to the doctor and request a scan of sorts. It came back showing longer cancer. Only then he was referred for oncology!

He had chemotherapy, was pronounced "cured" but a month later he died - his lung cancer had come back and spread vigorously. Mum was devastated because if the incompetence of the doctor in the first place. Sadly she passed away just over a year later... I lost 2 parents in a very short time period. I wished that there had been some sort of medical guidelines in South Africa as they have in the UK.

I miss my parents terribly... RIP dad, 10 years today.

Lung cancer can be caused by exposure to asbestos, air pollution, radon (a radioactive invisible gas released from certain types of soil. Radon can seep into your home and accumulate. ) Other causes could be Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, vaping and family history. Possibly it could also be toxic "fumes" from household detergents, chemicals and fabric softeners.

I think that's the awful bit about being diagnosed with lung cancer as a non-smoker, arum. You beat yourself up over every possible cause to find an answer. You can maybe narrow it down to breathing in particles, but which?
Is there just an element of bad luck, like say if you get breast cancer or womb cancer with no known cause? Is there a unfair element associated with lung cancer as a non-smoker because we have been conditioned to believe that smoking is the reason?

(As I said earlier, any cancer diagnosis is devastating for anyone).

Condolences to contributors on this thread for their heart breaking stories.