When it comes to cancer, people easily think of lung cancer because of its high incidence and mortality rate, which is called the “No. 1 killer”. Currently, there are 1.2 million new cases of lung cancer each year worldwide, and one person dies of lung cancer every 30 seconds. If the incidence of other cancers has much to do with genes and dietary habits, the high incidence of lung cancer is more a question of the living environment such as atmosphere, oil smoke and water. We interviewed 10 medical experts from respiratory and cancer fields to explain several factors of the high incidence of lung cancer. Experts unanimously pointed out that to curb this “killer”, we must start from small things around us – quit smoking, quit drinking, adjust our emotions, and even choose standard gasoline, everyone should think about it. 1.What are the causes of lung cancer? Lung cancer is not only caused by smoking, improper diet may also increase the risk of lung cancer. According to research, red meat produces carcinogenic isoamines during high-temperature processing, and if you often eat red meat cooked for a long time or fried meat, it will also increase the risk of lung cancer. Research shows that frying and deep-frying cooking methods will increase the risk of lung cancer, based on the cumulative number of cooking dishes, each cumulative frying 3,650 dishes will increase nearly 2.5 times the rate of lung cancer, followed by each cumulative frying and stir-frying 3,650 dishes are increased by more than double. As for any cooking method that can produce cooking fumes, every 18,000-plus plates will double the lung cancer risk, and if 73,000-plus plates are accumulated, the rate will increase by more than six times. The study also found that 41% of the women surveyed had lung cancer, which was caused by exposure to cooking fumes. Smoking is still the main cause of lung cancer. Smoking smoke contains more than 3,000 chemicals, including many carcinogens, such as N-nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines and other organic compounds (such as benzene) and inorganic compounds (such as arsenic). Among them, hydrocarbons, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, have strong carcinogenic effects. Phenols, as co-carcinogens and tumor promoters, make the carcinogenic effect of carcinogens substantially higher. Thus, smoke not only possesses direct irritant and toxic effects, but also directly causes cancer. The damage caused by smoking is often irreversible, and active exercise of lung function does not completely eliminate the cumulative damage of toxic substances to the lungs. There is no doubt that the best way to minimize the risk of lung cancer is to quit smoking. We cannot choose whether we are susceptible to lung cancer or not, that depends on the genetic sequencing we are born with, but we can choose to quit smoking so as to minimize the risk of lung cancer. 3. Other causes of lung cancer include air pollution, occupational exposure, etc. The occurrence of lung cancer is mainly related to smoking, occupation (close contact with asbestos, radon gas, mustard gas, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chloromethyl ether, chromium, nickel, inorganic arsenic compounds and radiation, etc.) and air pollution (polluted air contains a large amount of automobile exhaust and combustion waste). Therefore, people who have such factors in their lives are good candidates for lung cancer. In recent years, experts have noticed a grim fact – the number of non-smokers with lung cancer is increasing, especially more common in women. Coinciding with this fact, the types of lung cancer have also changed considerably. The incidence of squamous lung cancer (occurring in the epithelium of the large airways), which is more related to smoking, has decreased, while adenocarcinoma of the lung (occurring in the secretory area of the lung), which is less related to smoking, has increased by 15%. Air pollution, indoor (decorative and other chemicals) pollution, oil smoke, and secondhand smoke may be an important factor in lung cancer in non-smoking women. 4. Indoor pollution may also be the cause of lung cancer What is generally overlooked is that the cancer-causing threat of radon gas produced by room decoration and renovation far exceeds everyone’s expectation. Radon is produced by the decay of radium, which is the only gaseous radioactive element that human beings are exposed to. The half-life of radon is only 3.8 days. After radon is formed, it decays quickly and produces a series of radioactive products, and finally becomes the stable element lead. The health effects of radon on human are manifested as deterministic effects and random effects. The random effect is mainly manifested as the occurrence of tumors. Since radon is a radioactive gas, when people inhale it, the alpha particles produced by the decay process of radon can cause radiation damage in human respiratory system and induce lung cancer.