O f all cancers, lung cancer is the most deadly. Yet November, designated as Lung Cancer Awareness Month, has failed thus far to move the needle compared to diseases like ALS and breast cancer, which, while tragic, pose less risk to most people.
Around 80 percent of lung cancer cases are tied to smoking. People smoke cigarettes for a variety of reasons, and many of them do so despite understanding the health risks. For this reason, it seems, we have collectively decided that the afflicted have it coming.
It is time to examine why lung cancer, the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., hasn’t attracted the popular attention given to other diseases.
Lung cancer also occurs because of secondhand smoke and breathing otherwise polluted air. Sometimes it forms seemingly at random as a result of genetic predispositions. But compared to most diseases, lung cancer is as preventable as it is deadly. Reducing the numbers of people who smoke would drastically reduce its incidence, and it is for this reason precisely we must be courageous when it comes to having conversations about smoking.
At times, our well-intentioned respect for personal choice gets in the way of looking out for friends and family. We don’t advocate admonishing passersby or knocking cigarettes from their hands, but you owe it to yourself and the people you care about to discuss the long-term effects of smoking.
