Non-Smoking Lung Cancer

That is interesting. There seems to be more and more non-smoking lung cancer

Good Morning Stephen, thank you for the update, it is a large problem!

Intero -- you are right, especially in women! Over 60% of people diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked or haven't smoked in decades. 1 in 5 women with lung cancer have never smoked a day in their lives (compared to 1 in 12 men.) Many of these people have also not been exposed to radon. My mom is one of them.

In the last 30 years, the occurence of lung cancer in men has decreased parallel to the decrease in the national smoking rate. During the same time frame, there has been NO decrease in the occurence of lung cancer in women. On the contrary, the occurence of adenocarcinoma -- not associated with smoking at all -- has been steadily rising. it is now considered nearly epidemic in women.

Even though lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer combined, is so closely associated with smoking that it is denied the same kind of funding that other major forms of cancer receive (less than 5% of federal research funding for cancer!) as though its victims somehow deserve to die. This year, nearly twice the number of women will die from lung cancer than breast cancer.

Sorry for the rant. I'm just so tired and frustrated with the negative way victims of lung cancer are treated. I told a woman my mom had lung cancer and she looked at me like it was 1984 and I just said my mom had AIDS. Then she quickly excused herself, as though it might be contagious.