Photonic@lemmy.worldto
4 days
Because the risk doesn’t stop immediately after you quit smoking or drinking. A lot of the DNA damage that causes lung cancer is already done. Premalignant cells may have already formed and can still become malignant even after one quits smoking, or the tumor may have already formed but be slow-growing and asymptomatic.
The lung cancer risk does go down slowly year after year for smokers who quit. So people who keep smoking are still much more at risk.
And then of course there is a baseline risk of cancer and even people who never smoked can get lung cancer, especially those who live in cities with a lot of smog.
Lemmy
Whew, we’re safe guys