December 21, 2005

It's never too late to quit smoking

There is never a bad time to stop smoking, but there is no time like the present to quit. November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, and with the holiday season approaching, quitting smoking is the best gift smokers can give themselves, their families and their friends.

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for 440,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year. It also causes more than 80 percent of all lung cancers and increases the risk for a number of other types of cancer, including oral, throat pancreatic, uterine, bladder, and kidney cancers.

"Our most effective tool for treating lung cancer is to prevent it from ever happening," explains Bruce E. Johnson, MD, director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Johnson emphasizes that it is never too late to quit. People who stop and remain a nonsmoker for at least 10 to 20 years can cut their risk of developing lung cancer in half. Even those who quit smoking in their 60s, 70s, and 80s benefit by reducing their risk of dying from a heart attack or from developing lung or head and neck cancer, says Johnson.

Johnson offers the following tips to help people to quit smoking:

First, commit to quit

Remember reason for wanting to quit: Family, children, personal health

Tell friends and family

Recruit the help, support and encouragement of family and friends

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Janet      Permalink

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Blood test may detect asbestos-related lung cancer    (Reuters via Yahoo! News -  October 12, 2005)

Test may detect asbestos-related lung cancer    (MSNBC -  October 12, 2005)

Test Could Spot Asbestos-Linked Lung Cancer    (HealthDay via Yahoo! News -  October 12, 2005)

Some 600,000 people die of lung cancer in China annually    (People's Daily -  September 26, 2005)

New test for detection of lung cancer (September 6, 2005)

FDA approval sought for new lung cancer drug (September 6, 2005)

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