UICC GLOBALink Presents...
The Tobacco Reference Guide
by David Moyer, MD.


Chapter 8 Other Cancers

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Other Cancers: Breast Cancer

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A women's risk of dying from breast cancer is increased by 25% if she is a smoker. If

she smokes two packs or more a day, the risk is increased by 75%.

American Cancer Society Newsletter, Winter 1995

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Ever-active female smokers had double the risk for developing breast cancer

compared to never-active, never-passive smokers, in a study from Massachusetts.

American Journal of Epidemiology 149: 5-12, 1999

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Postmenopausal women who carry a defective or slow form of the acetylator enzyme

N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) and who smoke a pack a day or more appear to

increase their risk for breast cancer four-fold. The prevalence of the slow form of

NAT2 is about 55% in white women, 35% in blacks, 10-20% in Asians, and 65-90% in

those of Middle Eastern descent. The enzyme is thought to help detoxify carcinogens

in tobacco smoke.

JAMA, November 13, 1996

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In a study from Switzerland, a three-fold increased risk of breast cancer was found

among nonsmoking women who had been regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at

home or at work. For active smokers of a pack a day or more, the risk for breast

cancer was 4.6 times greater.

New York Times, May 5, 1996 (from May 1996 American Journal of Epidemiology)

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A Danish study found a 60% increase in the risk of breast cancer in women who had

smoked cigarettes for more than 30 years. Smokers tended to develop cancer at a

younger age, and those who had started to smoke before 16 and who smoked more

than 25 cigarettes a day faced an 80% increase in breast cancer risk.

New York Times, October 7, 1997

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