Excerpt from The Canadian Press, Nicole Ireland
“She's one of a growing number of non-smokers doctors are seeing with lung cancer. Although smoking remains the leading risk factor, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates about a quarter of lung cancer cases in the country are non-smokers.
In addition, more of those non-smokers are women than men and it's not clear why, said Jessica Moffatt, vice-president of programs and advocacy at the Lung Health Foundation.
"One of the theories is that potentially estrogen is doing something to perpetuate tumour growth, but it's all theories at this point," she said.
What scientists do know is that environmental factors contribute to lung cancer risk, especially radon gas.”