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Cancer Rates Not Explained By Smoking: A County-Level Analysis, Douglas J. Myers, Polly Hoppin, Molly Jacobs, Richard Clapp, David Kriebel
Cancer Rates Not Explained By Smoking: A County-Level Analysis, Douglas J. Myers, Polly Hoppin, Molly Jacobs, Richard Clapp, David Kriebel
Public Health and Population Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Background: Debates over the importance of “lifestyle” versus “environment” contributions to cancer have been going on for over 40 years. While it is clear that cigarette smoking is the most significant cancer risk factor, the contributions of occupational and environmental carcinogens in air, water and food remain controversial. In practice, most cancer prevention messaging focuses on reducing cigarette smoking and changing other personal behaviors with little mention of environmental chemicals, despite widespread exposure to many known carcinogens. To inform decision-making on cancer prevention priorities, we evaluated the potential impact of smoking cessation on cancer rates.
Methods: Using cancer …