# Smoking and Lung Cancer link disproven? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739 "2004-03-27T15:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/1 "2004-03-27T15:40:48Z")
I was out with some smokers yesterday and they claim that it has been proven that there is no link between smoking and lung cancer. They claim that the same percentage of non-smokers get lung cancer as smokers. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![JAPrufrock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@JAPrufrock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JAPrufrock)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/2 "2004-03-27T15:58:33Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I was out with some smokers yesterday and they claim that it has been proven that there is no link between smoking and lung cancer. They claim that the same percentage of non-smokers get lung cancer as smokers. Is this true? No, it’s complete nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/3 "2004-03-27T15:59:37Z")
No, its not true. Look at these stats: > [@](#): > > Smokers who smoke between 1 and 14 cigarettes a day have eight times the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to non-smokers. Smokers who smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day have 25 times this risk compared to non-smokers. From [here](http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/basic02.html) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/4 "2004-03-27T17:58:39Z")
No, it’s not true. The epidemiologic evidence for the link is overwhelming. Look [here](http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/3_14.htm) for a start. “Epidemiology” refers to the study of disease in populations, not individuals. Conceivably, that is what they were getting at, i.e that there’s never been a so-called randomized, controlled study to demonstrate that in humans smoking causes cancer. Nor will there ever be. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/5 "2004-03-27T18:06:48Z")
Your smoker pals are living in denial. I guess making up your own facts work better for some than just not thinking about them. A few facts from [here](http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/SelfHelp/conditions/smokinglungcancer/smokinglungcancer.asp) . - lung cancer was rare before the introduction of tobacco. - Tobacco smoking in its various forms is the single biggest cause. - only 8% of people survive lung cancer. And even if you want to chose to ignore these facts, there’s plenty of other lovely things that smoking can give and contribute to. Including; cancers of lips, tongue, throat, larynx, oesophagus, stomach, kidneys, pancreas, bladder and lungs, strokes, panic attacks, gum disease, glue ear, cataracts, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, narrowed heart arteries, heart attacks, aortic aneurysms, osteoporosis, miscarriages, testicular and cervical cancer. So your pals have a whole lot of other cover stories to make up before they’re in the clear. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/6 "2004-03-27T18:15:04Z")
The argument that Big Tobacco used to make in court was as follows: Some non-smokers get lung cancer. This particular smoker got lung cancer. While it is true that smoking makes you more likely to get cancer, you can’t prove that _this particular_ smoker wouldn’t have gotten lung cancer anyway. That argument doesn’t work anymore. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/7 "2004-03-27T18:19:28Z")
Are you sure they weren’t referring to second hand smokers instead of first hand smokers? I think that its true that second hand smokers have roughly the same lung cancer rates as non-smokers. Maybe they’re confused and thought second hand smoke effects (which are minimal) were the same as first hand smoke effects. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/8 "2004-03-27T18:23:56Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Are you sure they weren’t referring to second hand smokers instead of first hand smokers? I think that its true that second hand smokers have roughly the same lung cancer rates as non-smokers. Maybe they’re confused and thought second hand smoke effects (which are minimal) were the same as first hand smoke effects. An interesting theory Wesley, perhaps they were confused, but yes, I’m sure that I understood their ascertion. I wasn’t subtle about calling them on it. They maintained their stance. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-and-lung-cancer-link-disproven/236739/9 "2004-03-27T21:14:08Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I was out with some smokers yesterday and they claim that it has been proven that there is no link between smoking and lung cancer. They claim that the same percentage of non-smokers get lung cancer as smokers. Is this true? He’s wrong. It has not been proven that there is no link between smoking and lung cancer. Take note though! It has not been proven that it does either. You may see things like “50% more likely”, “25 times this and that”. That is not proof, only a statistic.