When my daughter was in medical school, they said that about 10% of lung cancers are not smoking related.
Here is what the American Cancer Society says about smoking and cancer (87% of lung cancer is smoking related). Please visit their site. Don't just visit the one page I link to below. There is so much useful information on cancer, a disease you really don't want to get and should avoid if you possibly can. Please do this for your own health and that of those you love.
Health Effects of Smoking
About half of all Americans who continue to smoke will die because of the habit. Each year, a staggering 435,000 people die in the US from tobacco use. Nearly 1 of every 5 deaths is related to smoking. Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined.
Cancer
Cigarette smoking accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of cancers of the lung, larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat), and esophagus, and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon and rectum, and some leukemias.
About 87% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, and is one of the most difficult cancers to treat. It is very hard to detect when it is in the earliest, most treatable stage. Fortunately, lung cancer is largely a preventable disease. Groups that promote nonsmoking as part of their religion, such as Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists, have much lower rates of lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers.
Other Health Problems
But cancers account for only about half of the deaths related to smoking. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, aneurysms, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, and contributes to the severity of pneumonia and asthma.
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http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Cigarette_Smoking.asp?sitearea=PEDIn I would like to put in my two cents. Substances other than tobacco as well as genetics can cause or contribute to the causation of cancer. It is my understanding that cancer is not necessarily, perhaps not often, maybe never caused by just one substance or exposure. It can be caused by a combination of factors or a series of exposures. Nevertheless, smoking is a risk no one should take.
One DUer pointed to the so-called "benefits" of smoking, such as a purported decrease in the risk of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and relief from mental illness. I believe those "benefits" have yet to be corroborated by critical, long-term studies comparable to those that have established the irrefutable link between the great majority of lung cancer cases and smoking. Even if those benefits are corroborated, however, the risks of smoking are just not worth it. In addition, the active ingredient(s) in tobacco that may purportedly cause the benefits (the existence of which I question), could surely be ingested through some means that does not result in cancer or the many other diseases that have been associated with smoking.
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