YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections→Lung Cancer

Health department provides facts about lung cancer

January 25, 2012|Journal staff report | news@jessaminejournal.com

Lung cancer kills thousands of Americans every year. Smoking, radon, and secondhand smoke are the leading causes of lung cancer. Although lung cancer can be treated, the survival rate is one of the lowest for those with cancer. In many cases, lung cancer can be prevented.

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Smoking causes an estimated 160,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. every year, according to the American Cancer Society in 2004. Approximately 30 Jessamine County residents die each year from lung cancer. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issued the first warning on the link between smoking and lung cancer. A smoker who is also exposed to radon has a much higher risk of lung cancer.

Radon is the number-one cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung-cancer deaths every year.

About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. In 2005, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a national health advisory on radon.

Secondhand smoke is the third-leading cause of lung cancer and responsible for an estimated 3,000 cancer deaths every year. Smoking affects nonsmokers by exposing them to secondhand smoke. Exposure to secondhand smoke can have serious consequences for children’s health, including asthma attacks, affecting the respiratory tract, and may cause ear infections.

Jessamine County Health Department advises two ways to prevent lung cancer: stop smoking and test your home for radon. The health department offers smoking-cessation classes and free radon test kits.
Radon is an odorless, tasteless, invisible, radioactive gas that comes from the natural decay of uranium in the soil.

It becomes radon gas and moves from the ground to the air. Radon enters homes through cracks, holes, and construction joints in the foundation. About 40 percent of homes in Jessamine County have high levels of radon. Test your home for radon this winter. If your level is high, it can be fixed.

For more information on quitting smoking, call the health department at 859-885-4149 or e-mail ShanaM.Peterson@ky.gov. To receive your free radon test kit, call the Health Department Environmental Office at 859-885-2310, e-mail LindsayB.Ames@ky.gov, or stop by our office on East Walnut Street in Nicholasville.

|

|

|