[milagro]

That first sentence makes NO sense!

[DannyTN]

So smokers ARE mutants! I knew it!!!

[PGR88]

My Father in Law smoked until he was 85. He died of complications caused when he fell off his motorcycle.

You’d think he was in a biker-gang, but he was actually a (retired) CEO of a property development company.

[ChildOfThe60s]

The majority of smokers do not get lung cancer. But all smokers suffer lung function impairment.

When I was a young man in college and smoked I figured the only thing one had to worry about with smoking was lung cancer. And since I was 20 years old I wasn’t going to get lung cancer. It was great to be immortal. Too bad it didn’t last LOL

[mass55th]

My parents, and 3 older siblings all smoked. I was the only one who never smoked. Both parents and a sister died of lung cancer. That sister had stopped smoking five years before being diagnosed. My only brother stopped smoking after having a heart attack at the age of 48. He died of a massive heart attack at 51. My oldest sister was an alcoholic. She was diagnosed with early onset of dementia because of her alcoholism, and spent 30+ years housed in a psych center, and in adult-assisted living homes in her later years. Because of smoking restrictions, she eventually stopped smoking, and died at the age of 74 of a stroke. I’m 74 now, will turn 75 in August if the Lord lets me.

[TermLimits4All]

Ironically, everyone in my family who quit smoking ended up getting cancer and dying early. Not necessarily lung cancer but cancers related to smoking. Those who didn’t quit lived much longer lives albeit with respiratory problems layer in life but not cancer. I still smoke and hopefully won’t get cancer from it but I guess time will tell.

[upchuck]

IMHO*, the only way to truly quit smoking is to just quit. Cold turkey. Yes, the first one or two weeks will likely be a living hell as your body adjusts to not having nicotine. But after the initial withdrawal pangs, you should have smooth sailing. The trick is to not backslide.

*Smoked 2, 3 or 4 packs a day for 60+ years. Tried quitting numerous times by using pills, nicotine gum, even hypnosis. Finally quit for good cold turkey in Feb, 1999 along with drugs and alcohol. Have COPD, which is slowly getting worse and will probably kill me eventually. I still want a cigarette or a drink or a snort every day.

[wardaddy]

My little brother

3 packs a day

Heart ischemia

Lungs clear

He had an MRI last month he was terrified

He got lucky

Not even a few clouds or spots

[Wuli]

Great bit of research and we expect the main finding - some people have DNA that functions in a superior fashion in repairing DNA from mutations. That finding will prove applicable to all sorts of diseases, not just cancer.

I would bet that people with greater DNA repair functions also have better immune systems and fight off viruses and bacteria on a better than average basis.

[equaviator]

"Cigarette smoking is overwhelmingly the main cause of lung cancer, yet only a minority of smokers develop the disease."

This makes perfect sense. It says that of all the known causes of lung cancer, cigarette smoking is the leading cause. However, most cigarette smokers do not develop lung cancer.

In hypothetical terms, there may be 10 different known causes but nine of those ten may be at 5% each or 45%, which leaves the tenth at 55%. The "55%" of smokers who develop lung cancer represents the smaller percentage (a minority) of the total number of cigarette smokers because the study is based on a subset of cigarette smokers. The total number of cigarette smokers is not a factor but the subset is.