• Question: sometimes there a couple where the boy smokes but the girl doesnt , and the girl get the cancer . Why ?? the boy should get it coz he smokes !!!!

    Asked by lucascosmos13 to Mariam, Leo, Jo, Iain, Gioia on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by hannahandkatiexxx.
    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Life isn’t fair! Smoking massively increases the risk of getting cancer, because it causes mutations in cells. But it’s just a risk: some people who smoke, are overweight and lie in the sun all day will be lucky and never get cancer. On the other hand, some people who live very healthy lives will be unlucky and will get cancer because of random mutations – like the girl in your scenario.

    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Unfortunately there are lots of things in life that aren’t very fair. There are lots of things that can cause cancer and some of them are just random things that we have no control over. Like Mariam said – smoking makes you much more likely to get cancer, but not everyone who smokes will get it.

    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      There are many, many different reasons why people get cancer. As well as smoking it can be caused by sunburn, obesity, getting old, viruses, your genes and lots and lots of other things. It it such a complicated disease that it is difficult to ever say exactly what has caused it in any particular person. Often there is no obvious reason that we can see.

      In the case of your couple there could be lots of reasons why the girl developed cancer. However, hanging around with someone who is smoking will increase her risk of developing lung cancer. Have you heard of the term passive smoking? It means that if your friends are smoking you will accidentally breathe in some of that unhealthy smoke, even if you don’t have a cigarette in your mouth. You’ll also smell awful! This is why smoking was banned in public places a couple of years ago.

      Also remember that just because the girl got cancer this doesn’t mean the boy won’t! If he keeps smoking he may develop cancer too.

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