Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Smoking and Lung Cancer - Perpetuating the Stigma

Reeve death highlights smoke risk
March 8, 2006

DID years of singing in smoky nightclubs kill Dana Reeve, the widow of
the paralysed Superman actor Christopher Reeve?

She died on Monday of lung cancer even though she was not a smoker. "Ten to 15 per cent of people who develop lung cancer are thought to be non-smokers," said Dr James Mulshine from Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago. "It was said that she had, in the course of being an entertainer, spent a lot of time in pubs, in nightclubs, in which there is a lot of cigarette smoke."

(Continue reading article)

My husband, Dan, forwarded me this link today from The Sydney Morning Herald. In a way, it makes me a little bit angry. It seems to me that the media is looking to blame smoking as the cause for Dana Reeve's lung cancer.

I think it is important to note that smoking is still the #1 cause of lung cancer. The best preventative measure you can take is to stop smoking or never start smoking. However, there is a percentage of people who do not smoke and have lung cancer.

I told my husband that singer Sheryl Crow was diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet, the media hasn't said, "Could years of singing in smoky nightclubs be the cause of Sheryl Crow's breast cancer?" Because only lung cancer has that stigma. Yet, breast cancer can also be prevented by not smoking.

Yes, Dana Reeve may have sung in nightclubs where people smoked. Yes, it could have been a factor in her lung cancer. But that doesn't mean that someone who has never been in that kind of environment can not get lung cancer.

Like any cancer, lung cancer does not discriminate.

Posted by Lynda :: 9:33 AM :: 1 people are more aware ---------------------------------------