I am so pissed off this morning. Mainly because of the assault that must be led by Phillip Morris, DeCode and the Devil Himself.
In a recent press push.....from as far as I can see. There is now a "magic bullet" for smoking and avoiding cancer. Recently published data in the Journal Nature is being over hyped. From Good Morning America to Fox News to MSNBC to my friend Hsien at Eye on DNA (Well hers isn't so much hype)
From Her blog
All three studies identified regions on chromsome 15 that are associated with nicotine dependence, lung cancer, and peripheral artery disease. The deCODE study focused on SNP rs1051730 located on chromosome 15q24 in the CHRNA3 nicotine acetylcholine receptor. People with one copy of the “T” version of this SNP had:
30% increase in risk of lung cancer OR of 1.3
20% increase in risk of peripheral artery disease OR of 1.2
Half of people of European descent have at least one copy of the higher risk SNP and 10% may have two copies which increases their cancer risk by 80%...... OR of 1.8
From the Nature Report
Tobacco is thought to be responsible for about 5 million premature deaths every year and smoking is still clearly the largest risk factor. But the new results suggest that, amongst smokers, some people may be as much as 80% more at risk than others thanks to their genes.
A solid analysis...but there are some old statistics out there that you need to know...
First, in the quoted 80% study the Odds Ratio of cancer in Homozygotes was 1.8. OR of 1.8 equals an increased risk of 80%.....That is small potatoes. Why? See here.
Well, In an environmental analysis in 1990 it was found that children exposed to Household exposure to 25 or more smoker-years during childhood and adolescence doubled the risk of lung cancer an odds ratio of 2.07. Obviously genotype was not evaluated.
So why is this group of smokers likely to quit if they even won't quit to prevent their children from getting cancer? Just chalk it up to the genes!
So what is the risk of cancer for smokers? You should go to the NCI website and see for yourself.
Why is this study and the press surrounding it silly and misleading? Because smoking causes more than just lung cancer......The study should have included all cancers....in that case you would have found much more interesting results...
The Sherpa Says:
Bottom Line, if deCode comes out and markets this test they should be shot. If they do sell it, it is only a sign of how absolutely horrible the financial position they are in. Smokers don't need further encouragement to keep smoking.....It is hazardous to them and the ones they love. Just quit....most people can't stand your smoke or paying for your cancers.... Here's to NY!
