What Causes Lung Cancer?

Lung Cancer from Asbestos

Once known for its durability, fire resistance, and cost-effectiveness, many referred to asbestos as a “miracle mineral” (pre-1982) and used in many different construction capacities. People primarily used asbestos as insulation for pipes, boilers, automobile brake linings, and more before scientists discovered it to be carcinogenic.

Bundles of fibers that make asbestos, when disturbed and crumbled into small particles, can be extremely dangerous. If something expels the fibers into the air, they can become lodged in a person’s lungs, irritate the tissue over time, and eventually cause the cells to mutate and develop into a type of lung cancer. However, doctors have linked asbestos to mesothelioma diagnoses, a rare disease that affects the lining of the lungs as well as other parts of the body. Medical professionals sometimes misdiagnose mesothelioma as lung cancer since it is not as common.

Does Radon Cause Lung Cancer?

The second leading cause of lung cancer is exposure to a poisonous, naturally occurring, radioactive gas called radon. What makes the gas so dangerous is its lack of color and odor. Radon causes approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. Typically, the gas oozes out of the soil and into the air. Usually, bits of radon float throughout the environment in many places outside. However, it only becomes dangerous in concentrated environments, such as inside houses and other residences.

Uranium and Lung Cancer

Energy professionals have used another mineral, uranium ore, as an abundant source of concentrated energy for over 60 years. Uranium naturally occurs in rocks and seawater. Generally, miners send uranium to processing plants to utilize for nuclear energy. The energy this method supplies adds up to about 11 percent of the world’s annual electricity. The U.S. military also uses uranium to power nuclear plants and reactors, in radioisotopes, and as a source of fuel.

Since this mineral is radioactive, exposure to high concentrations of enriched uranium for extended periods can cause healthy cells to mutate and begin multiplying excessively. This process has been known to cause lung cancer as well as other types of cancer. Fortunately, depleted or naturally occurring uranium has never specifically caused any human cancer.

Arsenic and Lung Cancer Risk

Arsenic is abundant in the environment, and miners often find it as a natural element in soil, rocks, water, air, plants, and animals. Typically, humans take in low levels of arsenic when we breathe, drink water, and eat food. However, this exposure is less dangerous. When people breathe in arsenic, it could put them at risk of developing lung cancer.

Before 1985, manufacturers used arsenic in several human-made products – primarily pesticides and herbicides. This fact put those who transported, applied, or worked around these toxic products at high risk for exposure to dangerous levels of arsenic. Those spending a lot of time around former agricultural sources of arsenic, older industrial buildings, or coal processing plants are also at high risk of dangerous arsenic exposure.

Cadmium Exposure and Lung Cancer

Classified as a carcinogen in 1993, cadmium is another element that occurs naturally, and many can find it in small amounts in air, water, soil, and food. All soils and rocks, including fertilizers made from coal and minerals, host cadmium. Scientists extract cadmium when producing zinc, lead, and copper. Manufacturers also use it for batteries, pigments, metal coatings, and plastics.

Those who work in factories where cadmium products are made or those who ingest cadmium products such as secondhand tobacco smoke and cadmium-contaminated foods are more likely to have a dangerous level of exposure to the element. Cadmium exposure has been known to be among the causes of lung cancer as well as prostate, pancreatic, and kidney cancer.

Can Chromium Cause Lung Cancer?

Research has shown that long-term exposure to chromium can increase the risk of developing lung cancer in patients. There are two types of chromium: trivalent chromium (known as Cr III) and hexavalent chromium (known as Cr VI). This element is most toxic in its Cr VI state, primarily targeting the respiratory tract, but Cr III can be an essential element in humans.

Chromium was popular in industrial capacities, and manufacturers used it primarily for making steel or other alloys as well as dyes, pigments, leather, wood preservation, and chrome plating.

How Does Nickel Cause Lung Cancer?

Mined from the earth’s crust, this element, although carcinogenic, scientists commonly combine it with other elements to form nickel compounds that have a wide range of industrial uses. Its excellent corrosion and heat resistance, durability, and strength make it ideal for use in metal alloys, which account for most of its usage.

In factories and plants where they produce nickel, toxic exposure to the substance is likely. Factory exposure could occur in manufacturing, mining, smelting, welding, casting, and grinding. Nickel can cause lung cancer when people inhale its particles through fumes or by skin contact.

Petroleum and Lung Cancer

It’s in our gasoline, and we commonly use it in rubber and tires, refrigerators, life jackets, and anesthetics. Petroleum, also known as petrolatum, is crude oil that’s also a fossil fuel. Much like other fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum is made from the remains of ancient marine organisms. These organisms included ocean plants, algae, and bacteria. When plants and animals sank to the seafloor at the end of their lifecycle, their remains (fossils) developed into carbon-rich substances after millions of years of extreme heat and the pressure from being crushed by tons of layers of sediment and plant debris. Today, scientists find petroleum in massive underground reservoirs where ancient seas once thrived.

As a source of energy, petroleum presents some challenges due to its tendency to release toxic gases, such as carbon dioxide, when burned. Medical professionals feel that prolonged inhalation or exposure to petroleum products can lead to lung disease and cancer. It is important to explore alternative and sustainable sources of energy that do not pose such risks to human health and the environment.

Particle Pollution

Particle pollution or smog is a significant cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. Dirty truck exhausts and smoke from power plants and chimneys often cause this type of pollution. The air we breathe can contain a mix of small, toxic liquid particles that are too small to see. Prolonged inhalation of such air in toxic environments can shorten your life and even lead to lung cancer. First responders like firefighters encounter particle pollution and smog a lot, as they are the first ones on the scene. California is the state with the highest levels of particle pollution in the nation, with Pennsylvania coming in a close second. It is crucial to take measures to reduce particle pollution and improve air quality to protect our health.